Reports By Year > All

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

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

There were 434 reports in all. These are listed below.

REPORT TITLE	DATE
Supporting local responses to extractive abuse: Commentary on the ND-Burma report 'Hidden Impact'  [KHRG Commentary]	Sep 6th, 2010
Eighteen years of KHRG field research indicates that regular extractive abuses by the SPDC Army and NSAGs threaten local livelihoods and are a fundamental human rights concern for villagers throughout eastern Burma. These abuses appear to be the product of the established SPDC Army and NSAG practice of supporting military units via extraction of significant material and labour resources from the local civilian population, enforced by implicit or explicit threats of violence. These findings were recently affirmed by ND-Burma, which last week released a report documenting the prevalence and impact of arbitrary taxation for communities across Burma. This commentary is designed to support ND-Burma's report, by offering additional recommendations based upon evidence that civilians have developed and employed a range of strategies for protecting themselves from extractive abuse or its consequences. These responses vary between contexts, and have been formulated based on first-hand awareness of the local dynamics of abuse and potential space for safe response. Seeking to understand, and then support, these local protection efforts should be the starting point for any external actors interested in improving human rights conditions in eastern Burma in both the short and long term.
Self-protection under strain: Targeting of civilians and local responses in northern Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 31st, 2010
The SPDC Army continues to attack civilians and civilian livelihoods nearly two years after the end of the 2005-2008 SPDC Offensive in northern Karen State. In response, civilians have developed and employed various self-protection strategies that have enabled tens of thousands of villagers to survive with dignity and remain close to their homes despite the humanitarian consequences of SPDC Army practices. These protection strategies, however, have become strained, even insufficient, as humanitarian conditions worsen under sustained pressure from the SPDC Army, prompting some individual villagers and entire communities to re-assess local priorities and concerns, and respond with alternative strategies - including uses of weapons or landmines. While this complicates discussions of legal and humanitarian protections for at-risk civilians, uses of weapons by civilians occur amidst increasing constraints on alternative self-protection measures. External actors wishing to promote human rights in conflict areas of eastern Burma should therefore seek a detailed understanding of local priorities and dynamics of abuse, and use this understanding to inform activities that broaden civilians' range of feasible options for self-protection, including beyond uses of arms.
Southern Papun District: Abuse and the expansion of military control  [Field report]	Aug 30th, 2010
This report presents information on the human rights situation in village tracts along the southern end of the Ka Ma Maung to Papun road in southern Dweh Loh and Bu Tho townships. SPDC and DKBA units maintain control over strategic points in lowland areas of this part of southern Papun, including relocation sites and vehicle roads, and support their presence by levying a range of exploitative demands on the local civilian population. SPDC and DKBA forces also continue to conduct offensive military operations in upland areas of southern Papun; for villagers living beyond permanent military control, these activities entail exploitative abuses, movement restrictions and, in some cases, violence including military attacks. Communities in both lowland and upland areas employ a variety of strategies to protect themselves and their livelihoods from SPDC and DKBA abuses and the effects of abuse. Strategies documented in this report include negotiation; paying fines in lieu of compliance with demands; discreet semi- or false compliance, or overt non-compliance or refusal to meet demands; strategic displacement to areas beyond consolidated SPDC or DKBA; and actively monitoring local security conditions to inform decisions about further self-protection responses. This is the last of four reports detailing the situation in Papun District’s southern townships that have been released in August 2010. Incidents described below occurred between September 2009 and April 2010.
Central Papun District: Village-level decision making and strategic displacement  [Field report]	Aug 27th, 2010
This report details a sequence of events in one village in central Papun District in late 2009. The report illustrates how the community responded to exploitative and violent human rights abuses by SPDC Army units deployed near its village in order to avoid or reduce the harmful impact on livelihoods and physical security. It also provides a detailed example of the way local responses are often developed and employed cooperatively, thus affording protection to entire communities. This report draws extensively on interviews with residents of Pi--- village, Dweh Loh Township, who described their experiences to KHRG field researchers, supplemented by illustrations based on these accounts by a Karen artist. This is the third of four field reports documenting the situation in Papun District's southern townships that will be released in August 2010. The incidents and responses documented below occurred in November 2009.
Central Papun District: Abuse and the maintenance of military control  [Field report]	Aug 23rd, 2010
This report presents information on the human rights situation in village tracts in central Papun District located near the northern section of the Ka Ma Maung to Papun Road, south of Papun Town in Bu Tho Township. Communities must confront regular threats to their livelihoods and physical security stemming from the strong SPDC and DKBA presence in, and control of the area, as these military units support themselves by extracting significant material and labour resources from the local civilian population. Villagers have reported movement restrictions and various exploitative abuses, including arbitrary taxation, forced portering, forced labour fabricating and delivering materials to military units, forced mine clearance and forced recruitment for military service. Some communities have also reported threats or acts of violent abuse, typically in the context of enforcing forced labour orders or where villagers have been accused of contacting or assisting KNLA forces operating in the area. This is the second of four reports detailing the situation in Papun District’s southern townships that will be released in August 2010. Incidents documented in this report occurred between April 2009 and February 2010.
Southwestern Papun District: Transitions to DKBA control along the Bilin River  [Field report]	Aug 18th, 2010
This report documents the human rights situation in communities along the Bilin to Papun Road and along the Bilin River in western Dweh Loh Township, Papun District. SPDC forces remain active in these areas, but DKBA soldiers from Battalions #333 and #999 have increased their presence; local villagers have reported that they continue to face abuses by both actors, but KHRG has received a greater number of reports of DKBA abuses, especially regarding exploitative demands, movement restrictions and the use of landmines in civilian areas. This report is the first of four reports detailing the situation in southern Papun that will be released in August 2010. Incidents documented in this report occurred between November 2009 and March 2010.
Submission for the UN Universal Periodic Review: Human rights concerns in KHRG research areas  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 6th, 2010
In 2006, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) was established and empowered to review the human rights practices of every UN member state, using a mechanism called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). UPR processes are conducted every four years for each member state by soliciting information from states, UN Agencies and other stakeholders, including local organisations. In January 2011, the HRC is scheduled to review the human rights practices of Burma’s military government for the first time. KHRG submitted information for inclusion in this review on July 5th 2010. This brief submission, based upon 61 KHRG reports published during the period 2008-2010, is reproduced below.
KHRG Photo Gallery 2010  [Photoset]	Jun 15th, 2010
The first instalment of KHRG’s Photo Gallery 2010 presents 131 still images selected from photos taken by field researchers since July 2009. Of these photos, 56 were taken during the latter half of 2009 and 75 were taken during 2010. This edition of the gallery is divided into six subtopics, including forced displacement, life under military control, convict porters, children in armed conflict, soldiers, weapons and army camps, and land and livelihoods.
Village burnt and residents forced to relocate in Pa’an District  [News Bulletin]	Jun 4th, 2010
DKBA soldiers in Dta Greh Township, Pa'an District, have burnt the small village of Gk'Law Lu and forced its residents to relocate. This incident is the second time Gk'Law Lu has been burnt and relocated by DKBA soldiers: the village was first burnt and residents forcibly relocated in October 2008. Relocated families, meanwhile, may face serious threats to their livelihoods if potential DKBA travel restrictions and risks from landmines limit access to farm fields in their home village.
SPDC shelling destroys villagers' rubber plantations in Dooplaya District  [News Bulletin]	May 20th, 2010
Two villagers have lost nearly 3,000 rubber trees in a fire started when SPDC soldiers from IB #548 fired mortars into their plantations as the men fled in anticipation of fighting between IB #548 and a patrol of KNLA troops on April 23rd 2010. The men will attempt to replant their plantations, but have each effectively lost four-year investments of labour and money.
Attacks on cardamom plantations, detention and forced labour in Toungoo District  [Field report]	May 13th, 2010
This field report documents recent human rights abuses committed by SPDC soldiers against Karen villagers in Toungoo District. Villagers in SPDC-controlled areas continue to face heavy forced labour demands that severely constrain their livelihoods; some have had their livelihoods directly targeted in the form of attacks on their cardamom fields. In certain cases individuals have also been subjected to arbitrary detention and physical abuse by SPDC soldiers, typically on suspicion of having had contact with the KNU/KNLA after being caught in violation of stringent movement restrictions. Villagers living in or travelling to areas beyond SPDC control, meanwhile, continue to have their physical security threatened by SPDC patrols that practice a shoot-on-sight policy in such areas. This report covers incidents between January and April 2010.
Cross-border DKBA attack displaces households in Thailand  [News Bulletin]	Apr 30th, 2010
On April 21st 2010 DKBA soldiers from Battalion #7 of Brigade #999 crossed into Thailand and burned three huts in the Thai village of Hsoe Hta in Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province. The raid was ordered by Batallion #7 Column Commander Bpweh Kih, who believed that the villagers had been in contact with the KNLA and were withholding information about four DKBA soldiers who had recently deserted from a DKBA camp at Bpaw Bpah Hta, Pa’an District. The incident falls into a broader recent pattern of cross-border violence and killings by the DKBA, often against suspected KNLA supporters; it also gives substance to statements made by deserters during interviews with KHRG that indicate they would be summarily executed if recaptured by the DKBA.
Attacks and displacement in Nyaunglebin District  [News Bulletin]	Apr 9th, 2010
At least 2,000 villagers have been displaced by SPDC Army attacks on villages in northern and central Kyauk Kyi Township, Nyaunglebin District. At least four villagers have been killed, while abandoned villages have been burned, including one clinic. More than ten schools have also been abandoned, disrupting students during their exam period. SPDC Army battalions conducted resupply operations at the end of February and KHRG field researchers predict attacks will soon resume.
Functionally Refoulement: Camps in Tha Song Yang District abandoned as refugees bow to pressure  [Field report]	Apr 1st, 2010
Two temporary refugee camps established during June 2009 in Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province, Thailand, to provide refuge for villagers that fled increased conflict and exploitative abuse in Pa'an District have now been all but entirely abandoned. The camps were home to more than 2,209 refugees as recently as January 2010; over the last two months, the camp populations have dwindled as small groups have departed one by one. On March 31st and April 1st, the last residents of the Nong Bua and Mae U Su sites left in two large groups, of 24 and 102 families respectively. This report details the circumstances of the refugee' departure, including interviews that indicate refugees left because of a persistent campaign of harassment by soldiers of the Royal Thai Army (RTA), who pressured the refugees to return to Burma in spite of warnings that safe return is not currently possible. The report also details the dangers returned refugees may face, including risks from landmines as well as violent and exploitative abuse by the DKBA and SPDC Army. This section also includes details regarding the death and injury of two young boys that accidentally detonated an unexploded M79 cartridge they found outside the village of Mae La Ah Kee on March 31st 2010. Highlighting the risks returned refugees may face, the boys came from a family that had been forced out of the Mae U Su site by RTA soldiers at the end of the rainy season 2009.
Forced Labour, Movement and Trade Restrictions in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Mar 4th, 2010
This field report documents the continuing and worsening demands for forced labour and restrictions on movement and trade imposed on villagers in Toungoo District by the SPDC army. These exploitative and restrictive practices undermine the livelihoods of both individuals living under SPDC control and villagers who have opted to live in hiding. Heavy demands for forced labour limit the time that villagers in relocation sites or SPDC-controlled areas can devote to securing their livelihoods; this strain is exacerbated by increasing restrictions on villagers’ freedom to travel for farming and trade, the latter of which is essential for obtaining basic foodstuffs and other necessities in many parts of Toungoo. This situation in turn reduces the availability and accessibility of essential food and medicines to villagers in hiding, who continue to resist SPDC exploitation despite grave risks to their physical security. This report covers incidents between June 2009 and January 2010.
SPDC mortar attack on school in Papun District  [News Bulletin]	Feb 24th, 2010
One 15-year-old student is dead and two other students are injured after an 81 mm mortar fired into an IDP hiding site in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District, landed in a school set up by the villagers. As of February 21st, the site’s 353 residents remained in hiding and are actively seeking to avoid being shot-on-sight by SPDC Army troops that remain in their area.
Abuse between borders: vulnerability for Burmese workers deported from Thailand  [Field report]	Feb 22nd, 2010
The Royal Thai Government appears poised to deport as many as 1.4 million workers that fail to complete "nationality verification" procedures by the end of February 2010. The majority of these workers are Burmese. Based upon extensive research conducted by KHRG and other organisations, it is likely that many of these workers came to Thailand not out of an apolitical desire for economic opportunity, but as a protection strategy initiated in response to the exploitative and violent abuse that drives poverty in their home areas. Moreover, even workers who do not face abuse upon return face abuse at the checkpoints to which Thai authorities transfer them during deportation procedures. These abuses include taxation, forced labour, beatings, killing and rape. Incidents documented in this report took place between November 2009 and February 2010.
Refoulement Deferred: Still no durable solution for hosting refugees in Tha Song Yang District  [News Bulletin]	Feb 5th, 2010
The Thai military appears to have temporarily scaled down plans to repatriate thirty households from one of three sites for refugees in Thailand’s Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province after being notified that they did not wish to return to Burma. Three households were nevertheless returned to Burma today, however, and Thai authorities have not indicated any willingness to allow the other 3,000 refugees to remain in Thailand beyond the immediate future. Until a durable solution is found for hosting these refugees, it is highly likely that Thai authorities will again attempt to forcibly repatriate them. At this juncture, return should not be considered to be voluntary or spontaneous. The three families that were returned today, and any others repatriated to Burma, potentially face significant threats to their human rights and security.
Threatening refoulement: harassment and pressure on refugees in Tha Song Yang District  [News Bulletin]	Feb 3rd, 2010
Local Thai military authorities appear to be moving forward with plans to evict 3,000 refugees residing at three temporary sites in Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province. This is not consistent with public and private assurances given by higher-level Thai authorities that any repatriation would be “voluntary.” Refugees interviewed by KHRG report that, starting on February 1st, Thai soldiers began visiting the temporary sites three times a day, threatening refugees and telling them that the camps must be vacated by February 15th. This bulletin details events between January 26th and February 3rd 2010. Appendix 1 then provides full transcripts of four interviews with refugees describing what could be the initial stage of refoulement. Appendix 2 then summarises significant threats to human rights and security that refugees could face should they be forced to return to Pa’an District.
Unsafe return: Threats to human rights and security for refugees leaving Tha Song Yang District  [News Bulletin]	Jan 27th, 2010
More than 4,000 refugees remain in Thailand's Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province, after fleeing fighting and exploitative abuse following joint SPDC/DKBA attacks on KNLA camps near the Ler Per Her IDP site in Dta Greh Township, Pa'an District. Though fighting between these groups is currently at a lull, refugees continue to face serious obstacles to safe return. All three armed groups remain active in the wider Ler Per Her area, and villagers have reported occasional shelling and small arms fire. Large numbers of unmarked landmines have also been placed in civilian areas. While many of these locations are currently abandoned, mines have injured or killed at least five people near Ler Per Her since June, including a 13-year-old boy and a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy. Returning refugees thus face serious risk of injury by landmines. Returned refugees would also face human rights abuses including conscription as forced labourers working on military projects, portering supplies and clearing landmines as well as reprisals against them as accused KNLA supporters. For these reasons, no refugees from the Ler Per Her area should be forced to repatriate against their will. Moreover, refugees should be included in any future negotiations regarding repatriation or relocation.
Attacks on displaced villagers in Nyaunglebin District  [News Bulletin]	Jan 22nd, 2010
At least 1,000 villagers have fled from ten villages during the last five days following the establishment of a new SPDC Army camp in central Nyaunglebin District. Two villagers in the area of the camp are confirmed to have been killed by soldiers from this camp. Three other villagers are missing after another SPDC battalion attacked a party of villagers that had escaped from an SPDC relocation site to tend to their farms.
Patterns of Abuse: Photographs of rural life in a militarized Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 6th, 2010
This photo album contains more than 125 full colour images showing scenes of life in rural Karen State, from paddy cultivation to attacks on villages to flight as displaced people and refugees. Photographed over the course of KHRG’s nearly 18 years of human rights work, these images present a striking picture of the patterns of abuse experienced by villagers in a militarized Karen State. Professionally printed on glossy paper and in a hard cover binding, this photo album is available for sale on the KHRG website. All proceeds go to funding KHRG’s documentation work, gathering information, stories and photos from villagers and advocating for respect of human rights in Burma, as well as supporting villagers’ own strategies to claim their rights.
Grave Violations: Assessing abuses of child rights in Karen areas during 2009  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 3rd, 2010
The UN Secretary-General has listed the SPDC Army, as well as other armed groups in Burma, in five consecutive reports to the Security Council for violations of children’s rights. It has been more than two years since the UN established a formal mechanism for monitoring child rights violations in Burma. As the year closes, however, KHRG research indicates that grave violations of children’s rights increased during 2009. This report provides details on these grave violations, covering the period of January to December 2009.
Exploitative abuse and villager responses in Thaton District  [Field report]	Nov 25th, 2009
SPDC control of Thaton District is fully consolidated, aided by the DKBA and a variety of other civilian and parastatal organisations. These forces are responsible for perpetrating a variety of exploitative abuses, which include a litany of demands for 'taxation' and provision of resources, as well as forced labour on development projects and forced recruitment into the DKBA. Villagers also report ongoing abuses related to SPDC and DKBA 'counter insurgency' efforts, including the placement of unmarked landmines in civilian areas, conscription of people as porters and 'human minesweepers' and harassment and violent abuse of alleged KNLA supporters. This report includes information on abuses during the period of April to October 2009.
Forced recruitment, forced labour: interviews with DKBA deserters and escaped porters  [News Bulletin]	Nov 13th, 2009
This news bulletin provides the transcripts of eight interviews conducted with six soldiers and two porters who recently fled after being conscripted by the DKBA. These interviews confirm widespread reports that the DKBA has been forcibly recruiting villagers as it attempts to increase troop strength as part of a transformation into a government Border Guard Force in advance of the 2010 elections. The interviews also offer further confirmation that the DKBA continues to use children as soldiers and porters in front-line conflict areas. Three of the victims interviewed by KHRG are teenage boys; the youngest was just 13 when he was forced to join the DKBA.
Living conditions for displaced villagers and ongoing abuses in Tenasserim Division  [Field report]	Oct 29th, 2009
Villagers in SPDC-controlled parts of Tenasserim Division, including 60 villages forced to move to government relocation sites in 1996, continue to face abuses including movement restrictions, forced labour and arbitrary demands for 'taxation' and other payments. In response, thousands of villagers continue to evade SPDC control in upland jungle areas. These villagers report that they are pursued by Burma Army patrols, which shoot them on sight, plant landmines and destroy paddy fields and food stores. This report primarily draws on information from September 2009. Because KHRG has not released a field report on the region since 2001, this report also includes quotes and photographs from research dating back to 2007.
Starving them out: Food shortages and exploitative abuse in Papun District  [Field report]	Oct 15th, 2009
As the 2009 rainy season draws to a close, displaced villagers in northern Papun District's Lu Thaw Township face little prospect of harvesting sufficient paddy to support them over the next year. After four straight agricultural cycles disrupted by Burma Army patrols, which continue to shoot villagers on sight and enforce travel and trade restrictions designed to limit sale of food to villagers in hiding, villagers in northern Papun face food shortages more severe than anything to hit the area since the Burma Army began attempts to consolidate control of the region in 1997. Consequently, the international donor community should immediately provide emergency support to aid groups that can access IDP areas in Lu Thaw Township. In southern Papun, meanwhile, villagers report ongoing abuses and increased activity by the SPDC and DKBA in Dwe Loh and Bu Thoh townships. In these areas, villagers report abuses including movement restrictions, forced labour, looting, increased placement of landmines in civilian areas, summary executions and other forms of arbitrary abuse. This report documents abuses occurring between May and October 2009.
Tollgates upon tollgates: En route with extortion along the Asian Highway  [Field report]	Oct 5th, 2009
As the town of Myawaddy on the Thai-Burma border has grown through increased trade, so too have efforts by local military forces to extract revenue from the workers, traders and travellers who pass through it. With increasing exploitative and military pressures in the surrounding rural areas, many local villagers have also joined the ranks of those seeking economic refuge—or just opportunities to work or buy and sell goods—in town and across the border. Villagers in the area live under a motley patchwork of political and military authorities that operate over 20 checkpoints along the Asian Highway between Myawaddy and Rangoon. At each checkpoint transport trucks and passenger vehicles must pay tolls while travellers may be searched and forced to give 'donations' or 'tea money' to inspecting soldiers. Fixed tolls and ad hoc extortion are used to support the checkpoint itself and the military personnel controlling it. This report includes information collected in August and September 2009.
Patrols, movement restrictions and forced labour in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Sep 28th, 2009
This report documents the situation for villagers in Toungoo District, both in areas under SPDC control and in areas contested by the KNLA and home to villagers actively evading SDPC control. For villagers in the former, movement restrictions, forced labour and demands for material support continue unabated, and continue to undermine their attempts to address basic needs. Villagers in hiding, meanwhile, report that the threat of Burma Army patrols, though slightly reduced, remains sufficient to disrupt farming and undermine food security. This report includes incidents occurring from January to August 2009.
Livelihood consequences of SPDC restrictions and patrols in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Sep 22nd, 2009
This report presents information on abuses in Nyaunglebin District for the period of April to July 2009. Though Nyaunglebin saw a reduction in SPDC activities during the first six months of 2009, patrols resumed in July. Since then, IDP villagers attempting to evade SPDC control report that they have subsequently been unable to regularly access farm fields or gardens, exacerbating cycles of food shortages set in motion by the northern Karen State offensive which began in 2006. Other villagers, from the only nominally controlled villages in the Nyaunglebin's eastern hills to SPDC-administered relocation sites in the west, meanwhile, report abuses including forced labour, conscription into government militia, travel restrictions and the torture of two village leaders for alleged contact with the KNLA.
Security concerns for new refugees in Tha Song Yang: Update on increased landmine risks  [News Bulletin]	Sep 22nd, 2009
At least 4,862 refugees from the Ler Per Her IDP camp and surrounding villages in Pa'an District remain at new arrival sites in Thailand. Though the fighting that precipitated the flight of many of these refugees in June has decreased, the area from which they fled continues to be unsafe for them to return. This bulletin provides updated information on landmine risks for refugees who may return, or who have already returned, including the maiming of a 13-year-old resident of the Oo Thu Hta new arrival site who returned to visit his village to tend livestock. Refugees face other threats to safe return as well, including widespread conscription as forced labourers, porters and "human minesweepers" by the SPDC and DKBA, as well as forced military recruitment by the DKBA and potential accusation and punishment as "insurgent supporters."
Abuse in Pa'an District, Insecurity in Thailand: The dilemma for new refugees in Tha Song Yang  [Field report]	Sep 8th, 2009
This report presents information on abuses in eastern Pa'an District, where joint SPDC/DKBA forces continue to subject villagers to exploitative abuse and attempt to consolidate control of territory around recently taken KNLA positions near the Ler Per Her IDP camp. Abuses documented in this report include forced labour, conscription of porters and human minesweepers as well as the summary execution of a village headman. The report also provides an update on the situation for newly arrived refugees in Thailand's Tha Song Yang District, where at least 4,862 people from the Ler Per Her area have sought refuge; some have been there since June 2nd 2009, others arrived later. This report presents new information for the period of June to August 2009.
SPDC and DKBA order documents: August 2008 to June 2009  [Orders report]	Aug 27th, 2009
This report includes translated copies of 75 order documents issued by Burma Army and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army officers to village heads in Karen State between August 2008 and June 2009. These documents serve as supplementary evidence of ongoing exploitative local governance in rural Burma. The report thus supports the continuing testimonies of villagers regarding the regular demands for labour, money, food and other supplies to which their communities are subject by local military forces. The order documents collected here include demands for attendance at meetings; the provision of money and alcohol; the production and delivery of thatch shingles and bamboo poles; forced labour as messengers and porters for the military; forced labour on road repair, the provision of information on individuals and households; registration of villagers in State-controlled ‘NGOs’; and restrictions on travel and the use of muskets. In almost all cases, such demands are uncompensated and backed by an implicit threat of violence or other punishment for non-compliance. Almost all demands articulated in the orders presented in this report involve some element of forced labour in their implementation.
Forced recruitment of child soldiers: An interview with two DKBA deserters  [News Bulletin]	Aug 25th, 2009
Over the past year, forced recruitment by the DKBA has seen a marked increase as the group has intensified attacks on the KNU/KNLA while also preparing to become a "Border Guard Force" under at least partial command by the SPDC army. Struggling to find sufficient numbers of volunteer soldiers, the DKBA has been ordering villages to provide recruits or pay large sums to hire substitutes. Villagers have also been arrested and forced to enlist, or pay to avoid conscription. The following report includes testimony from two teenage boys, aged 17 and 19, who were detained while working on a farm near their village in Pa’an District, forcibly recruited into the DKBA and taken to a military training camp in Shwe Gko Gkoh, southeastern Pa'an District. On July 20th 2009, just one month after they were initially seized, the boys deserted. Three days later they were interviewed by KHRG.
Ongoing accounts of village-level resistance  [Field report]	Jul 31st, 2009
External accounts of life in rural Burma have long been shaped by narrow stereotypes of helpless victims and intransigent oppressors. However, as KHRG has increasingly documented, such portrayals fail to accurately reflect the dynamics of life under military rule and the (albeit disadvantaged) efforts which regular people employ to resist abuse, renegotiate relations of power and assert control over their lives. As international engagement in Burma increases, a far more nuanced understanding of local-level political processes remains crucial to developing a rights-based approach to aid provision. To that end, the present report provides summaries of three recent incidents in which villagers sought to negotiate a change or reduction in military demands. All three accounts deal with orders issued by DKBA forces in Papun and Thaton districts of Karen State during May and June 2009. In a departure from the usual KHRG reporting-style, these accounts have been supplemented with illustrations based on villagers' descriptions of events provided to KHRG by an independent illustrator.
DKBA attack on villagers and the forced dismantling of a mosque in Papun District  [News Bulletin]	Jul 17th, 2009
Since mid-May 2009, the DKBA has become increasingly active in Papun District of northern Karen State. DKBA forces have issued new movement restrictions, demanded food and supplies from local communities and forced villagers to porter supplies and carry out other forms of forced labour. This news bulletin covers a targeted attack on villagers and the forced dismantling of a mosque – both of which were carried out by DKBA forces in Papun District during May-June 2009.
KHRG Photo Gallery 2009  [Photoset]	Jul 15th, 2009
This first instalment of KHRG's Photo Gallery 2009 presents 123 still images and 1 short video that have been received from KHRG field researchers since the last instalment of Photo Gallery 2008 in February 2009. The photos cover a period from July 2008 up to July 2009 and provide visual evidence of forced labour, attacks on villages, the deployment of landmines and other abuses as well as ongoing internal displacement, refugee flows and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Karen State.
IDPs, land confiscation and forced recruitment in Papun District  [Field report]	Jul 1st, 2009
In the northernmost township of Papun District, 13 of 46 Burma Army battalions deployed as part of an ongoing offensive in northern Karen State were withdrawn between the end of 2008 and the start of 2009. Although this has opened some space for villagers, they report continued patrols, restricted access to farmland and severe food shortages. Elsewhere in the district where SPDC control is more comprehensive, villagers report forced labour and land confiscation for road construction as well as conscription as 'human minesweepers' and into the local government militia. This report presents information on ongoing abuses committed by SPDC forces in Papun District from February to May 2009.
Exploitation and recruitment under the DKBA in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Jun 29th, 2009
While recent media attention has focused on the joint SPDC/DKBA attacks on the KNLA in Pa’an District and the dramatic exodus of at least 3,000 refugees from the area of Ler Per Her IDP camp into Thailand, the daily grind of exploitative treatment by DKBA forces continues to occur across the region. This report presents a breakdown of DKBA Brigade #999 battalions, some recent cases of exploitative abuse by this unit in Pa’an District and a brief overview of the group’s transformation into a Border Guard Force as part of the SPDC’s planned 2010-election process, in which the DKBA has sought to significantly expand its numbers. Amongst those forcibly recruited for this transformation process was a 17-year-old child soldier injured in the fighting at Ler Per Her, whose testimony is included here.
Abuse, Poverty and Migration: Investigating migrants' motivations to leave home in Burma  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jun 16th, 2009
International reporting of the large-scale migration of those leaving Burma in search of work abroad has highlighted the perils for migrant during travel and in host countries. However, there has been a lack of research in the root causes of this migration. Identifying the root causes of migration has important implications for the assistance and protection of these migrants. Drawing on over 150 interviews with villagers in rural Burma and those from Burma who have sought employment abroad, this report identifies the exploitative abuse underpinning poverty and livelihoods vulnerability in Burma which, in turn, are major factors motivating individuals to leave home and seek work abroad.
Update on SPDC/DKBA attacks at Ler Per Her and new refugees in Thailand  [News Bulletin]	Jun 13th, 2009
Joint SPDC/DKBA attacks against KNLA positions near to Ler Per Her IDP camp continue, as do joint SPDC/DKBA attacks against the camp of KNLA Battalion #202, located about 30 km north of Ler Per Her. Refugees have fled to Thailand from both areas, while other villagers who have yet to flee remain amidst the fighting facing their own humanitarian and security threats.
Over 3,000 villagers flee to Thailand amidst ongoing SPDC/DKBA attacks  [News Bulletin]	Jun 7th, 2009
As of Saturday June 6th, over 3,000 villagers have fled the area of Ler Per Her IDP camp in Dta Greh Township, Pa'an District to seek refuge in neighbouring Thailand. This includes villagers fleeing joint SPDC/DKBA attacks against the KNLA as well as those fleeing forced recruitment as porters to carry supplies for SPDC and DKBA troops engaged in the fighting. This is the largest refugee exodus from Karen State on a single occasion since 1997. Also, more refugees are expected as joint SPDC/DKBA forces have advanced towards the camp of KNLA Battalion #202, about 30 kilometres north of Ler Per Her.
Over 700 villagers flee to Thailand amidst fears of SPDC/DKBA attacks on a KNLA camp and an IDP camp in Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Jun 5th, 2009
Villagers in Pa’an District, Karen State, have begun fleeing to Thailand to avoid violence and forced recruitment as porters in a possible joint SPDC/DKBA attack on a KNLA camp in Dta Greh Township, located next to a now populous IDP camp along the Moei River, bordering Thailand. This news bulletin describes the events of the past four days in which SPDC and DKBA forces have advanced towards the KNLA camp and begun what appears to be preparation for an attack. SPDC soldiers have begun patrolling and have set up an 81 mm mortar not far from the site and displaced villagers living in the area have become increasingly concerned about their safety.
Don't neglect rural Burma in calling for Suu Kyi's release  [KHRG Commentary]	Jun 4th, 2009
Following the arrest of the American John Yettaw on May 5th 2009, Burma's pro-democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest, moved to Insein Prison and put on trial. The international community has responded to these events with a flurry of attention on Burma not seen since Cyclone Nargis last year. Heads of State, activists and newspaper editors have renewed calls for her immediate release. At the same time, Burma Army operations in Karen State and other rural ethnic areas along with their associated human rights abuses remain ongoing and widespread. Yet once again the situation of abuse in rural Burma has been marginalised in favour of the more high profile political drama in the country's urban settings. In calling, quite rightly, for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the international community must neither neglect the situation of abuse in rural Burma nor miss current opportunities to support those who face this abuse.
Mistreatment and child soldiers in the Burma Army: Interviews with SPDC deserters  [News Bulletin]	Jun 3rd, 2009
This news bulletin provides the transcripts of two interviews conducted with soldiers who recently deserted from the Burma Army. A third deserter, who was aged 16 when he spoke with KHRG, provides a single statement. The testimonies of these former soldiers provide insight into the current dynamics within the Burma Army. Amongst other things, the deserters described the high number of child soldiers within the Burma Army, low moral, poor remuneration, theft of salaries and mistreatment of rank-and-file soldiers.
Joint SPDC/DKBA attacks, recruitment and the impact on villagers in Dooplaya and Pa'an districts  [News Bulletin]	May 27th, 2009
Following a joint SPDC/DKBA attack on the camp of KNLA Battalion #201 at Ghaw Lay Kee in Dooplaya District on April 19th 2009, around 200 villagers living in the area fled to Thailand. This and other recent attacks against KNLA targets - and the forced recruitment used to support them - have negatively impacted villagers in both Dooplaya and Pa'an districts. Recent DKBA attacks on KNLA targets have also crossed over into Thailand. Meanwhile, new DKBA recruits from Pa'an District will reportedly be sent for training at an SPDC training centre in Magwe Division in central Burma. This bulletin looks at the impact of the attacks and forced recruitment in these areas during April and May 2009.
Military movements, forced labour and extortion in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	May 15th, 2009
In some areas of Nyaunglebin District, north-western Karen State, frontline army camps from which SPDC troops withdrew at the end of 2008 remain empty. Elsewhere in the district, however, the Burma Army is active with regular patrols amongst villages in both the plains and hills. In those areas where the SPDC maintains a consolidated hold on the civilian population, Burma Army personnel continue to demand forced labour and extort money and supplies from local communities. This report describes the military situation in Nyaunglebin District from January to March 2009 as well as the Burma Army's continued use of forced labour and extortion of the local population.
Whatever happened to the 2007 protesters?: Interviews with convict porters  [News Bulletin]	Apr 29th, 2009
This report presents January 2009 interviews with two former SPDC convict porters. Both men are originally from Arakan State, Western Burma, and participated in the 2007 demonstrations against the rising cost of living. These demonstrations culminated in September 2007 with the large-scale monk-led protests and subsequent military crackdown. Both men were arrested by SPDC authorities for their activities, forced to serve as porters for the Burma Army in Karen State and eventually escaped captivity. Their testimonies cover issues such as SPDC-sponsored murder of convict porters, corruption within Burma's judiciary and systematic SPDC abuses perpetrated against prisoners. The interviews also give insight into the possible fates of other Burmese citizens who have tried to voice dissent in Burma's authoritarian environment, whether as part of the September 2007 protests or otherwise.
Food crisis: The cumulative impact of abuse in rural Burma  [Regional or Thematic report]	Apr 29th, 2009
Systematic militarisation and widespread exploitation of the civilian population by military forces have created poverty, malnutrition and a severe food crisis in Karen State and other parts of rural Burma. This crisis requires urgent attention by the international community - with intervention shaped by the concerns of villagers themselves. This briefer outlines the human rights abuses which have caused the food crisis; the combined impacts of these abuses upon civilian communities; the ways in which villagers have responded to and resisted abuse; and the actions that can be taken by the international community to alleviate the current crisis and to prevent future cycles of abuse and malnutrition in rural Burma.
Forced recruitment, child soldiers and abuse in the army: Interviews with SPDC deserters  [Field report]	Apr 27th, 2009
This report includes interviews with two deserters who fled the Burma Army in 2008 and spoke to KHRG about their experiences in February 2009. The interviews cover issues of forced recruitment, child soldiers, corruption and theft within the army, low moral and desertion, and the brutal treatment of both civilians and fellow soldiers by armed forces personnel.
IDP conditions and the rape of a young girl in Papun District  [Field report]	Apr 11th, 2009
This report describes SPDC operations in and around internally displaced person hiding sites in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District. Villagers in this area continue to face constant physical threats and food insecurity caused by SPDC patrols—indeed, residents have been prevented from consistently accessing their farm fields for so long that they now face a dire food crisis. This report also details the rape of a 13-year-old girl by an SPDC soldier in Dweh Loh Township and the local military commander's attempt to cover up the incident. This report examines cases of SPDC abuse from December 2008 to March 2009.
IDP responses to food shortages in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Apr 10th, 2009
Since the beginning of 2009, SPDC troops have patrolled areas near displaced hiding sites in Nyaunglebin District. These patrols prevent displaced villagers from cultivating their secret crops or otherwise accessing food, which in turn exacerbates food insecurity for these civilians. Despite such hardships, villagers have responded by cooperating with each other—often sharing food or helping each other cultivate crops and sell goods in 'jungle markets'. This report describes the situation of displaced villagers in Nyaunglebin District from December 2008 to March 2009.
Land confiscation and the business of human rights abuse in Thaton District  [Field report]	Apr 2nd, 2009
While the SPDC and DKBA have both continued to utilise forced labour and extortion as means of financing local operations in Thaton, these two groups have also employed other, separate exploitive practices. The SPDC has confiscated large tracts of land belonging to local villagers and then sold it to the Max Myanmar Company for use in rubber cultivation. The DKBA, for its part, has used forced labour, arbitrarily detained and beaten villages and has also required Thaton villagers to buy calendars and religious photographs of DKBA leaders. This report documents abuses between September 2008 and January 2009.
SPDC and DKBA road construction, forced labour and looting in Papun District  [Field report]	Mar 31st, 2009
Late last year, during SPDC reconstruction work on two main roads leading from Papun town to SPDC camps in the Kyauk Nya and Dagwin areas of Bu Tho Township, KNU/KNLA forces took the opportunity to launch secret guerrilla attacks against the SPDC site. Believing that local Karen villagers had cooperated with KNLA forces, the SPDC began to force villagers and convict porters to work on the roads and also killed and looted villagers' animals and property when it patrolled villages in the area. DKBA forces have also recently demanded forced labour and forced recruitment from Papun villagers during this time. The incidents detailed in this report occurred between December 2008 and February 2009.
Extortion and restrictions under the DKBA in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Mar 16th, 2009
Recent reports suggest that, in negotiations with State authorities, the DKBA has been able to ensure its long-term political future in Burma by transforming itself into a 'Border Security Force', a title that would nominally place the group within the SPDC hierarchy. Consequently, the DKBA's ongoing restrictions and extortion in T'Nay Hsah and Dta Greh townships of eastern Pa'an District (near the Thai border) may be expected to continue even after the planned 2010 elections. This report examines cases of abuse against villagers by SPDC and DKBA forces in Pa'an District from the end of 2008 to March 2009.
KHRG Photo Gallery 2008  [Photoset]	Feb 13th, 2009
KHRG's 2008 Photo Gallery contains photographs supplied by KHRG field researchers between January 2008 and January 2009. There have been two installments to the Photo Gallery with a total of 314 photographs and 7 videos included. Due to the extended travels of KHRG field researchers, these photos also include images captured during 2007. The dates of the photos cover the period from July 2007 to January 2009.
Insecurity amidst the DKBA - KNLA conflict in Dooplaya and Pa'an Districts  [Field report]	Feb 6th, 2009
The DKBA has intensified operations across much eastern Pa'an and north-eastern Dooplaya Districts since it renewed its forced recruitment drive in Pa'an District in August 2008. These operations have included forced relocations of civilians, a new round of forced conscription and attacks on villages. The DKBA has also pushed forward in attacks on KNLA positions in both districts in an apparent effort to eradicate the remaining KNLA presence and wrest control of lucrative natural resources and taxation points in the lead up to the 2010 elections. Skirmishes between DKBA, SPDC and KNLA forces have thus continued throughout this period. Local villagers have faced heightened insecurity in connection with the ongoing conflict. DKBA, SPDC and KNLA forces all continue to deploy landmines in the area and DKBA forces have fined or otherwise punished local villagers for attacks by KNLA soldiers. This report documents incidents of abuse in Dooplaya and Pa'an Districts from August 2008 to February 2009.
Attacks, killings and the food crisis in Papun District  [Field report]	Feb 4th, 2009
SPDC abuses against civilians continue in northern Karen State, especially in the Lu Thaw and Dweh Loh townships of Papun District. Abuses have been particularly harsh in Lu Thaw, most of which has been designated a "black area" by the SPDC and so subject to constant attacks by Burma Army forces. Villagers who decide to remain in their home areas are often forced to live in hiding and not only face constant threats of violence by the SPDC, but also a worsening food crisis due to the SPDC's disruption of planting cycles. This report covers events in Papun District from August 2008 to January 2009.
DKBA soldiers burn down huts, detain villagers and loot property in Thailand  [News Bulletin]	Jan 20th, 2009
Following skirmishes on January 1st 2009 between soldiers from DKBA Battalions #999 and 907 and KNLA Battalion #103 in north-eastern Dooplaya District, DKBA troops crossed the Thai-Burmese border and have since been operating in and around Thai-Karen villages in Umphang District of Thailand's Tak province and harassing local villagers. This area also includes Noh Poe refugee camp, home to approximately 14,000 refugees from Burma, many of whom remain anxious about the ongoing military operations in the area and a potential attack on the camp.
Rural development and displacement: SPDC abuses in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Jan 13th, 2009
The SPDC has continued to militarise larger and larger swaths of Toungoo District under the false banner of 'development', subjecting local villagers to forced labour and extortion and forcing others to flee into hiding. Life is hard for villagers both under and outside of SPDC control: villagers living within SPDC-controlled areas are often forced to work for the SPDC rather than focus on their own livelihoods while villagers in hiding continue to struggle with a shortage of food. Ultimately, many residents of Toungoo face a mounting food crisis that is a direct result of SPDC policy. This report discusses incidents that occurred between May and September 2008.
Cycles of Displacement: Forced relocation and civilian responses in Nyaunglebin District  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 12th, 2009
Over the past three years, the Burma Army has conducted an extensive forced relocation campaign in Nyaunglebin District. As part of the wider offensive in northern Karen State, the forced relocations in Nyaunglebin District have aimed to bring the region’s entire civilian population into more easily controllable settlements in the plains, along vehicle roads and alongside army camps and bases. Local villagers, however, have resisted these efforts in numerous ways. Villagers’ resistance strategies include: fleeing into hiding to evade forced relocation; negotiating with local SPDC commanders to avoid relocation or garner increased freedom of movement at relocation sites; and covertly leaving relocation sites to temporarily or permanently return to their former homes and lands. The Burma Army’s attacks against civilian communities in hiding, combined with forced relocation efforts and civilian evasion in Nyaunglebin District, have created ongoing cycles of displacement.
SPDC and DKBA extortion and forced labour in Thaton District  [Field report]	Nov 26th, 2008
Militarisation in practice is not always uniform. As the SPDC and DKBA rotate their army units in Thaton District, western Karen State, villagers confront shifting patterns of authority and abuse. While villagers living around the SPDC’s army camp at Yoh Gkla continue to face forced labour, extortion and threats of arbitrary detention and execution, the local SPDC battalion that has been deployed there since July 2008 has patrolled less frequently than its predecessor. This has lead to a weakened ability to enforce movement restrictions on villagers. This report comprises incidents which took place between July and October 2008.
Village Agency: Rural rights and resistance in a militarized Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 25th, 2008
With a disproportionate emphasis on isolated incidents of particularly emotive violent abuses in rural areas and a concurrent neglect of the many ways villagers have sought to resist such abuse, international journalism and advocacy around Burma has often contributed to portrayals of rural villagers as helpless victims passively terrorised by the Burma Army. By marginalising the agency of rural villagers in this way, such portrayals have perpetuated the exclusion of these individuals from the ongoing political processes which affect them. Citing the personal testimonies of over 110 villagers living in Karen State, this report seeks to challenge such portrayals and provide a forum for these individuals to speak for themselves about the context of abuse in which they live and their own efforts to resist this abuse. By highlighting the resistance strategies and political agency of villagers in rural Karen State, this report argues that the voices of these individuals can, and indeed should, be heard and incorporated into the many ongoing political processes that affect them.
Networks of Noncompliance: Grassroots resistance and sovereignty in militarised Burma  [Article or paper]	Nov 10th, 2008
This paper examines state repression and state-society conflict in Burma through the lens of rural and urban resistance strategies. It finds very well developed 'networks of noncompliance' through which civilians evade and undermine state control over their lives, and that SPDC’s brutal tactics represent not control, but a lack of control. Using concrete examples, the paper argues that outside agencies ignore this state-society struggle over sovereignty at their peril: by ignoring the interplay of intervention with local politics and militarisation, claiming a 'humanitarian neutrality' which is impossible in practice, and portraying civilians as helpless pawns, those who intervene and those who document the situation risk undermining the very civilians they wish to help, while facilitating further state repression. It calls for greater honesty and awareness in interventions, combined with greater outside engagement with villagers in their resistance strategies. Only days after this paper was first presented at the Yale University Agrarian Studies Colloquium, some of its cautions about the naïveté of claiming humanitarian neutrality in Burma’s politicised and militarised context were tragically realised, when Cyclone Nargis devastated parts of the country and international aid agencies were forced to confront firsthand the SPDC's raw disdain for its own civilian population. Some gave in and chanelled aid through the Burmese military, much of which never reached the target populations.
Routine forced labour in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Oct 29th, 2008
For those villagers living under the control of SPDC and DKBA forces in Pa'an District, certain forms of forced labour have now become routine. Such 'routine' forced labour includes: cultivation of rainy season and dry season rice crops on fields owned by DKBA officers, maintaining rubber plantations, roadside clearance of forest overgrowth following the rainy season, portering military supplies out to soldiers operating at 'frontline' army camps, collecting, preparing and delivering bamboo and thatch for use in the repair and construction of the region's many army camps, and temporarily serving as camp-based messengers. Combined, these various forms of forced labour significantly cut into crucial time villagers need for their own agricultural and other livelihoods activities. This report looks at cases of forced labour from July to September 2008 and includes a short video of recent forced labour in Pa'an District.
Human minesweeping and forced relocation as SPDC and DKBA step up joint operations in Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Oct 20th, 2008
Since the end of September 2008, SPDC and DKBA troops have begun preparing for what KHRG researchers expect to be a renewed offensive against KNU/KNLA-controlled areas in Pa'an District. These activities match a similar increase in joint SPDC-DKBA operations in Dooplaya District further south where these groups have conducted attacks against villagers and KNU/KNLA targets over the past couple of weeks. The SPDC and DKBA soldiers operating in Pa'an District have forced villagers to carry supplies, food and weapons for their combined armies and also to walk in front of their columns as human minesweepers. This report includes the case of two villagers killed by landmines during October while doing such forced labour, as well as the DKBA's forced relocation of villages in T'Moh village tract of Dta Greh township, demands for forced labourers from the relocated communities and the subsequent flight of relocated villagers to KNLA-controlled camps in Pa'an District as a means to escape this abuse; all of which took place in October 2008.
The 'everyday politics' of IDP protection in Karen State  [Article or paper]	Oct 20th, 2008
While international humanitarian access in Burma has opened up over the past decade and a half, the ongoing debate regarding the appropriate relationship between politics and humanitarian assistance remains unresolved. This debate has become especially limiting in regards to protection measures for internally displaced persons (IDPs) which are increasingly seen to fall within the mandate of humanitarian agencies. Conventional IDP protection frameworks are biased towards a top-down model of politically-averse intervention which marginalizes local initiatives to resist abuse and hinders local control over protection efforts. Yet such local resistance strategies remain the most effective IDP protection measures currently employed in Karen State and other parts of rural Burma. Addressing the protection needs and underlying humanitarian concerns of displaced and potentially displaced people is thus inseparable from engagement with the 'everyday politics' of rural villagers. The present article seeks to challenge conventional notions of IDP protection that prioritize a form of State-centric 'neutrality' and marginalize the 'everyday politics' through which local villagers continue to resist abuse and claim their rights. (This working paper was presented on the panel 'Migration within and out of Burma' as part of the 2008 International Burma Studies Conference in DeKalb, Illinois in October 2008.)
DKBA soldiers attack Karen village in Thailand  [News Bulletin]	Oct 9th, 2008
After disputes over arbitrary taxation payments and accusations of favouring the KNLA, 40 to 50 soldiers of DKBA Battalion #907 - under brigade commander N'Kaw Mway - attacked the village of Mae Gklaw Kee in Thailand's Umphang District. Troops shelled the village tract leader's house, shot at villagers' houses and then burnt down villagers' crop storage barns. The Batallion subsequently set up a camp in nearby Gklaw Ghaw village. As SPDC and DKBA troops work together in an effort to take control of the area, villagers face increased restrictions, overlapping taxation demands, and the threat of future attacks and land confiscation.
DKBA bans alcohol consumption to justify human rights abuses in Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Oct 3rd, 2008
DKBA soldiers in T'Nay Hsah township of Pa'an District have prohibited villagers from drinking alcohol, effectively forbidding several long-standing cultural traditions among the Karen population. Villagers caught drinking have been beaten, punished with forced labour and threatened with conscription into the DKBA. The incidents in this report occurred in August and September 2008.
Villagers' responses to forced labour, torture and other demands in Thaton District  [Field report]	Oct 2nd, 2008
From February to July 2008, SPDC and DKBA forces operating in Thaton District continued to demand forced labour, extort money and threaten villagers as punishment for allegations that villagers had contacted KNU/KNLA personnel. In addition, the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis on Thaton's infrastructure and crops has added to the struggles of villagers. Despite such hardships, villagers in these communities continue to test and refine strategies to resist abuse by the SPDC and DKBA. Both local and international humanitarian and development agencies should increase efforts to support these villager-based resistance strategies, enabling villagers to claim their rights.
Forced recruitment by DKBA forces in Pa’an District  [News Bulletin]	Sep 24th, 2008
The DKBA has begun a campaign of conscripting civilians from village tracts in T'Nay Hsah township, Pa’an District, into military service in order to supplement a joint SPDC-DKBA offensive against the KNLA in Dooplaya District. Villagers who do not want or cannot become soldiers for the DKBA are required to hire others to serve in their stead – paying this fee has in many cases required villagers to sell their land and livestock or find work in other villages. Desertion from the DKBA is common and, in an effort to dissuade soldiers from fleeing, the DKBA has begun to harass and fine the families of soldiers that desert. Finally, this current campaign raises questions about the credibility of the SPDC's reported intention to have all ceasefire groups disarm in order to contest the 2010 elections as political parties. This report describes events in Pa’an from June to September 2008.
Daily demands and exploitation: Life under the control of SPDC and DKBA forces in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Sep 18th, 2008
In SPDC- and DKBA-controlled Pa'an District villagers face regular, and sometimes daily, demands for labour, money, food and other supplies from local military units. With troop rotation ensuring the constant presence of active troops patrolling these areas, villagers are given little respite from the demands which place a constant drain on their time, incomes and food supplies. In addition to forced labour, extortion and arbitrary taxation, looting by soldiers is rife and families face increased and arbitrary fees for their children's education. Such continual exploitation undermines villagers' livelihoods and makes family survival unsustainable, leading many villagers to instead seek more sustainable livelihood opportunities in other areas of Burma or neighbouring Thailand. This report focuses on the situation in Dta Greh township of Pa'an District, detailing incidents which occurred between January and July 2008.
DKBA soldiers burn down Ler Bpoo village, Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Aug 29th, 2008
On August 26th, DKBA forces operating under Bo Gk'Do, an officer serving with Maung Chit Thoo of DKBA Special Battalion #999, burnt down the village of Ler Bpoo in eastern Pa'an District. Prior to being burnt down, the village had 50 households and a population of approximately 100 villagers. The former residents initially fled to seek shelter elsewhere. Some villagers went to stay with relatives in neighbouring settlements and others to a Buddhist monastery located in a nearby village. On Wednesday, August 27th, DKBA forces ordered the displaced villagers to return to stay at an open field located near the now burnt-down remains of Ler Bpoo village.
Mortar attacks, landmines and the destruction of schools in Papun District  [Field report]	Aug 22nd, 2008
SPDC abuses against civilians continue in northern Karen State, especially in Lu Thaw township, Papun District. Because these villagers live within non-SPDC-controlled "black areas", the SPDC believes it has justification to attack IDP hiding sites and destroy civilian crops, cattle and property. These attacks, combined with the SPDC and KNLA's continued use of landmines, have caused dozens of injuries and deaths in Papun District alone. Such attacks target the fabric of Karen society, breaking up communities and compromising the educations of Karen youth. In spite of these hardships, the local villagers continue to be resourceful in providing security for their families and education for their children. This report covers events in Papun District from May to July 2008.
Forced labour and extortion in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Aug 8th, 2008
At a time when civilians in Pa’an District are already struggling with rising food prices and unemployment, an increasing number of villagers are being subjected to forced labour and extortion by local SPDC and DKBA forces. This is especially true in eastern Karen State, near the Thoo Mweh (Moei) river, where DKBA commanders are forcing villagers to ignore their own livelihoods in order to help these leaders cultivate their personal rubber plantations. The result of these abuses is a worsening food crisis and constant economic migration to other areas both in Burma and in neighbouring Thailand, places where villagers hope to find more sustainable employment opportunities. This report describes the situation in the Dta Greh and T’Nay Hsah townships of Pa’an District from January to June 2008.
SPDC and DKBA order documents: October 2007 to March 2008  [Orders report]	Aug 6th, 2008
As evidence of ongoing exploitative local governance in rural Burma, this report comprises a collection of 59 translated order documents issued by SPDC and DKBA officers to village heads in Karen State between October 2007 and March 2008. The orders provide tangible confirmation of rural villagers’ consistent testimonies regarding the regular demands for labour, money, food and other supplies to which their communities are subject by local military forces. Amongst other things, these order documents articulate demands for the payment of money and food; fabrication and delivery of building supplies; attendance at meetings; road clearance and construction; portering of military supplies; agricultural labour and the delivery of bullock carts. In almost all cases, such demands are uncompensated and backed by an implicit threat of violence for non-compliance. Almost all demands articulated in the orders presented in this report involve some element of forced labour in their implementation.
Military expansion and exploitation in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Aug 5th, 2008
With the SPDC Army's continued expansion in Nyaunglebin District, local villagers not under military control have had to once again flee into the surrounding forest while troops have forcibly interned other villagers in military-controlled relocation sites. These relocation sites, typically in the plains of western Nyaunglebin, alongside army camps or SPDC-controlled vehicle roads, serve as containment centres from which army personnel appropriate labour, money, food and supplies to support the military's ongoing expansion in the region. Extortion by military officers operating in Nyaunglebin District has included forced 'donations' allegedly collected for distribution to survivors of Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta. This field report looks at the situation in Nyaunglebin up to the end of May 2008.
Attacks, killings and the food crisis in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Aug 1st, 2008
SPDC troops have continued to target internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Toungoo District. Civilians continue be killed or injured by the attacks while many of the survivors flee their homes and take shelter in forest hiding sites. Some who have moved into SPDC forced relocation sites continue to secretly return to their villages to cultivate their crops, constantly risking punishment or execution by troops patrolling the areas. The SPDC’s repeated disruption of regular planting cycles has created a food crisis in Toungoo, further endangering the IDPs living there. This report examines the abuses in Toungoo District from April to June 2008.
Update on the KNU/KNLA-PC: Statements by a deserter and a 'retiree'  [News Bulletin]	Jul 29th, 2008
As the KNU/KNLA-PC approaches the year and a half mark since its founding in early 2007, this news bulletin provides an update on developments of this little-reported-on armed group. Having been founded with an initial troop strength of well under 100 soldiers, current estimates suggest that the group has expanded to about 800 soldiers now divided between seven battalions operating in central and southeastern Pa'an District. While the assassination in January 2008 of Ler Moo, widely seen as the KNU/KNLA-PC's major source of funding, has, challenged the group's ongoing expansion, the interviews presented here suggest that it continues to primarily engage in SPDC-sanctioned logging and timber trading. This bulletin presents the full text of two interviews conducted by KHRG field researchers in June and July 2008 with a former soldier and a former officer of the KNU/KNLA-PC.
Interview with an SPDC deserter  [News Bulletin]	Jul 28th, 2008
This news bulletin comprises a translated interview with a 28-year-old deserter from the Burma Army who spoke to KHRG in July 2008. The content of the interview covers issues of child soldiers, mistreatment of civilians and low-ranking soldiers, and the deployment of army personnel against monks and civilians during the country’s September 2007 protests.
Exploitative governance under SPDC and DKBA authorities in Dooplaya District  [Field report]	Jul 11th, 2008
With largely consolidated control over Dooplaya District in southern Karen State the SPDC and DKBA, as the two dominant military forces, operate under a system of coexistence. The local civilian population, in turn, faces exploitative governance on two fronts as both SPDC and DKBA soldiers seek to extract money, labour, food and other supplies from them. Enforcing heavy movement restrictions on top of persistent exploitative demands, local communities are facing deteriorating livelihood opportunities, increasing poverty, and a constriction of educational and health care opportunities. Persistent human rights abuses thus foster the economic pressures fuelling the continuing migration of rural communities in Dooplaya District to refugee camps in Thailand and towards livelihood opportunities at urban centres in Burma and Thailand. This report examines the situation of abuse in Dooplaya District from January to June 2008.
Attacks, forced labour and restrictions in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Jul 1st, 2008
While the rainy season is now underway in Karen state, Burma Army soldiers are continuing with military operations against civilian communities in Toungoo District. Local villagers in this area have had to leave their homes and agricultural land in order to escape into the jungle and avoid Burma Army attacks. These displaced villagers have, in turn, encountered health problems and food shortages, as medical supplies and services are restricted and regular relocation means any food supplies are limited to what can be carried on the villagers' backs alone. Yet these displaced communities have persisted in their effort to maintain their lives and dignity while on the run; building new shelters in hiding and seeking to address their livelihood and social needs despite constraints. Those remaining under military control, by contrast, face regular demands for forced labour, as well as other forms of extortion and arbitrary 'taxation'. This report examines military attacks, forced labour and movement restrictions and their implications in Toungoo District between March and June 2008.
Burma Army attacks and civilian displacement in northern Papun District  [Field report]	Jun 12th, 2008
Following the deployment of new Burma Army units in the area of Htee Moo Kee village, Lu Thaw township of northern Karen State, Papun District, during the first week of March 2008, at least 1,600 villagers from seven villages were forced to relocate to eight different hiding sites in order to avoid the encroaching army patrols. These displaced communities are now facing heightened food insecurity and an ongoing risk of military attack. This report is based on in-depth interviews with displaced villagers from Lu Thaw township regarding the recent Burma Army operations and the resultant effects on the local communities. It also includes information on the recent military attack on Dtay Muh Der village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District which Burma Army forces conducted during the first week of June 2008 and which led to the further displacement of over 1,000 villagers.
Video: Displaced children in northern Karen State  [Photoset]	May 19th, 2008
In December 2007, Burma Army soldiers operating under Military Operations Command (MOC) #4 conducted a series of attacks against villages in the Th'Ay Kee area of southeastern Toungoo District, northern Karen State. The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) video presented here includes footage of the initial attack and the following days as children and their families from the Th'Ay Kee area continued to flee on foot in order to evade the Burma Army soldiers who were hunting them down.
Is the SPDC diverting aid on ethnic grounds?  [KHRG Commentary]	May 14th, 2008
According to recent reports received by KHRG from residents of the Irrawaddy Delta, the SPDC has not only been restricting aid supplies and access by international humanitarian workers, but has also been doing so on the basis of ethnicity. Increasing reports on the military's restrictions and misappropriation of aid supplies necessitate immediate international investigation, as all affected residents of the delta regardless of their ethnicity remain in urgent need humanitarian assistance. The regime's obstructions of humanitarian aid increasingly appear to fall under the criteria of crimes against humanity. In such a case, the responsibility to protect this population falls on the international community
Life inside the Burma Army: SPDC deserter testimonies  [News Bulletin]	May 9th, 2008
The military regime's inability to effectively respond to the humanitarian catastrophe lying in the wake of Cyclone Nargis reflects, along with the regime's traditional neglect of civilian interests, underlying fissures within the country's armed forces. Threats, physical abuse and under nourishment are rife in the Burma Army, according to testimonies provided by recent SPDC deserters. These statements support reports coming out from other sources about the declining morale within Burma's armed forces, and the regime's increasing reliance on forced conscription, including of children, in an attempt to meet unrealistic objectives of military expansion. Tension and violence within the ranks of the Burma Army led one deserter interviewed by KHRG to turn his gun on a senior officer, killing him before fleeing from his army unit.
Forced voting as military regime ploughs forth with referendum despite cyclone devastation  [News Bulletin]	May 8th, 2008
While Cyclone Nargis has wrought massive damage upon large areas of south and southeast Burma, the SPDC remains adamant that it will press ahead with its planned constitutional referendum. Karen State has been identified as an area affected by the cyclone, yet local SPDC authorities are continuing to pressure villagers into voting 'yes' in favour of the military-engineered constitution. Statements by villagers, as quoted at length in this report, regarding military coercion, forced participation in the referendum and obligatory 'yes' votes challenge any claims that this process is at all 'free and fair'.
Growing up under militarisation: Abuse and agency of children in Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Apr 30th, 2008
As the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the military junta currently ruling Burma, works to extend and consolidate its control over all areas of Karen State, local children, their families and communities confront regular, often violent, abuses at the hands of the regime's officers, soldiers and civilian officials. While the increasing international media attention on the human rights situation in Burma has occasionally addressed the plight of children, such reporting has been almost entirely incident-based, and focused on specific, particularly emotive issues, such as child soldiers. Although incident-based reporting is relevant, it misses the far greater problems of structural violence, caused by the oppressive social, economic and political systems commensurate with militarisation, and the combined effects of a variety of abuses, which negatively affect a far larger number of children in Karen State. Furthermore, focusing on specific, emotive issues sensationalises the abuses committed against children and masks the complexities of the situation. In reports on children and armed conflict in Karen State and elsewhere, individual children's agency, efforts to resist abuse and capacity to deal with the situations they live in, as well as the efforts made by their families and communities to provide for and protect them, tend to be marginalised and ignored. Drawing on over 160 interviews with local children, their families and communities, this report seeks to provide a forum for these people to explain in their own words the wider context of abuse and their own responses to attempts at denying children their rights. With additional background provided by official SPDC press statements and order documents, international media sources, reports by international aid agencies, as well as academic studies, this report argues that only by listening to local voices regarding the situation of abuse in which they live and taking as a starting point for advocacy and action local conceptions of rights and violations can external actors avoid the further marginalisation of children living in these areas and begin to build on villagers' own strategies for resisting abuse and claiming their rights.
Just another case of coercion and forced labour? Karen villagers' statements on the 2008 referendum  [News Bulletin]	Apr 24th, 2008
As the SPDC steps up its pre-referendum activities, the regime's officials in Karen State have been forcibly registering local villagers, issuing temporary identification documents and ordering everyone to participate in the May 10th event. Villagers, however, have responded to the whole process with a mixture of skepticism and distrust.
Supporting IDP resistance strategies  [Article or paper]	Apr 23rd, 2008
Whether in hiding or living under military control, displaced villagers of Karen State and other areas of rural Burma have shown themselves to be innovative and courageous in responding to and resisting military abuse. They urgently need increased assistance but it is they who should determine the direction of any such intervention. This article, co-authored by two KHRG staff members, appears in issue number 30 of the journal Forced Migration Review (FMR), issued in April 2008 and is available on both the KHRG and FMR websites.
SPDC spies and the campaign to control Toungoo District  [Field report]	Mar 31st, 2008
According to reports from KHRG field researchers working in the forested mountains of Toungoo District, local SPDC forces have recently begun utilising spies operating under the guise of escaped convict porters to locate civilian hiding sites. These individuals have reportedly utilised their cover to gain information on the location of displaced hiding sites, farm fields and food storage containers. This information has, in turn, allowed for the rapid deployment of SPDC patrols to target particular displaced communities in military attacks. Alongside this strategy, the SPDC has maintained heavy movement restrictions and imposed persistent forced labour in those areas already under its control. This report examines the human rights situation in Toungoo District up to March 2008.
Oppressed twice over: SPDC and DKBA exploitation and violence against villagers in Thaton District  [Field report]	Mar 20th, 2008
Throughout Thaton District the SPDC has persistently worked to expand and entrench military control not only by increasing its own troops, but also by heavily relying on the DKBA as a local proxy force. Both groups exploit the civilian population to support their respective military hierarchies and local villagers thus face a double burden on their lives. This report looks at various forms and specific incidents of forced labour, extortion, violence and other abuse against villagers in Thaton District which SPDC and DKBA personnel have perpetrated up to February 2008.
Village-level decision making in responding to forced relocation: A case from Papun District  [Field report]	Mar 7th, 2008
As part of its campaign of militarisation in Northern Karen State the SPDC has had as a principle strategy the forcible relocation of villagers from areas outside of its control to relocation sites close to Army camps or vehicle roads where civilian control can be firmly established. Over the years, villagers in Papun District and across Karen State have come to learn well that SPDC control means regular abuse and exploitation and, therefore, have sought to avoid such control wherever possible. This report presents one recent example from January to February 2008 of the courageous and varied response strategies villagers use to resist forced relocation and abuse and evade control by SPDC soldiers. Interestingly, this case also hints at some internal dissent and corruption within the SPDC ranks.
Militarisation, violence and exploitation in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Feb 15th, 2008
While the SPDC leadership proposes dates for a constitutional referendum and eventual multiparty elections it nonetheless continues without the slightest hesitation the violent subjugation of villagers in northern Karen State. The area of Toungoo District is now saturated with SPDC troops and the local civilian population living under military control as well as those living in hiding are facing constricting options for their lives. The SPDC has continued to increase the military build-up of the area deploying more troops, building new camps and bases and constructing and upgrading vehicle roads to facilitate troop deployment and the stocking of army camps. In this context attacks on villages, arbitrary detentions, killings, forced labour and extortion have continued consistent with the regime's policy of civilian subjugation and in opposition to its claims of a potential return to civilian rule through the current constitution-vetting process.
SPDC soldiers arrest and kill villagers on allegations of contacting KNU/KNLA  [News Bulletin]	Jan 16th, 2008
Using sweeping powers to confine civilians without charge, SPDC forces operating in Dooplaya District in southern Karen State have detained, tortured and in some cases killed villagers. The grounds for these actions have been alleged contact with the KNU, which the SPDC deems an illegal organisation. As the SPDC seeks to arbitrarily and violently utilise the civilian population to locate KNU personnel, many civilians have responded by fleeing to Thailand in the hopes of finding sanctuary. This report includes testimonies from four villagers who fled from Kawkareik Township, Dooplaya District following such persecution by SPDC personnel.
Attacks, killings and increased militarisation in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Jan 11th, 2008
With the dry season in northern Karen State well under way, the SPDC continues to intensify its militarisation of the area. In Nyaunglebin District this intensification has come in the form of an increased troop build-up with the regime deploying new military units, establishing new camps and bases and attacking displaced civilian communities in hiding. Maintaining a shoot-on-sight policy SPDC soldiers operating in Nyaunglebin have shot and killed or otherwise severely injured displaced villagers and destroyed rice storage barns and civilian rice supplies across the district. In those areas more firmly under SPDC control, soldiers have ordered villagers to labour building army camps, porter mortar shells and army rations and repair SPDC-controlled vehicle roads in support of the region’s growing military presence. This report looks at the human rights situation in Nyaunglebin District from October to December 2007.
Video evidence of forced labour in Papun District  [News Bulletin]	Dec 13th, 2007
With international interest on Burma firmly focused on events in Rangoon and the regime's purported 'cooperation' with the United Nations, local SPDC authorities have continued demands for forced labour in the rural areas of Karen State unabated. Following the seasonal forced labour cycle the SPDC has once again initiated widespread forced labour projects with the onset of dry season. In Papun District such forced labour has included cutting down and delivering bamboo poles, constructing bridge-side fences and cutting back forest growth from the sides of vehicle roads. To carry out this labour local SPDC authorities have utilised women, children and men. This report includes video and photographic evidence of the SPDC's perpetration of forced labour.
SPDC troops burn villages and step up operations against civilians in southern Toungoo District  [News Bulletin]	Dec 7th, 2007
Following the deployment of new SPDC Army units in southern Toungoo District at the end of November, SPDC troops have been sweeping through the forests on search and destroy missions targeting displaced communities in hiding. Already in December, these patrols have burnt down at least two villages and killed at least one displaced villager as well as having destroyed numerous hidden food stores which they have encountered during patrols of the area. The local displaced communities are now facing heightened food insecurity and an ongoing risk of military attack.
Villagers risk arrest and execution to harvest their crops  [Field report]	Dec 4th, 2007
The months of November and December which follow the annual cessation of the rainy season mark the traditional harvest time for the agrarian communities of Karen State when villagers must venture out into their fields in order to reap their ripe paddy crops. Across large areas of Toungoo District, however, where the SPDC lacks a consolidated hold on the civilian population, this time of year has become especially perilous as the Army enforces sweeping movement restrictions backed up by a shoot on sight policy in order to eradicate the entire civilian presence in areas outside its control and restrict the population to military-controlled villages and relocation sites where they can be more easily exploited for labour, money, food and other supplies. Displaced communities in hiding thus risk potential arrest and execution by venturing out into the relatively open area of their hill side agricultural fields where they are more easily spotted by SPDC troops who regularly patrol the area. Yet, because of the Army’s persistent attacks against covert farm fields, food stores and displaced communities in hiding these villagers confront a severe food shortage which has increased pressure on them to tend to their covert fields despite the risks. As a consequence some villagers have already lost their lives; having been shot by SPDC soldiers while attempting to tend their crops and address their community’s rising food insecurity.
Increased roads, army camps and attacks on rural communities in Papun District  [Field report]	Nov 16th, 2007
Having initially begun construction a decade ago, the SPDC has this year completed the Papun section of a roadway which extends northwards from the east-west Kyauk Kyi to Saw Hta vehicle road towards the SPDC army camp at Buh Hsa Kee in southern Toungoo District. While still incomplete on the Toungoo side of the border the Papun section effectively cuts the northern half of Lu Thaw township into two east-west sections and forms a dangerous and difficult to cross barrier for those civilians fleeing from ongoing military attacks against their communities. Nevertheless villagers in Lu Thaw and other areas of Papun continue to evade SPDC forces and the district currently has the highest number of internally displaced people in hiding out of any area of eastern Burma. Notwithstanding the creative and courageous strategies which these villagers have adopted in order to avoid the army columns which continue to hunt them down, they remain in a precarious situation; one which has only heightened in its severity with the completion of the Papun section of the north-south vehicle road and the upgrading of other roadways further south.
KHRG Photo Gallery 2007  [Photoset]	Nov 6th, 2007
This updated version of KHRG Photo Gallery 2007 includes additional photos received from KHRG field researchers since the second installment of the Gallery in September 2007. These most recent additions include photos taken since the start of 2007 up until August 2007 and bring the total number of photos in the Gallery to 259. The Gallery will continue to be updated throughout the year as we receive more photos from the field.
SPDC Army atrocities in Ler Muh Bplaw village tract in the words of a local resident  [Field report]	Oct 24th, 2007
While the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) continues its diplomatic manoeuvring claiming a 'return to normalcy' and courting favour with United Nations special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, attacks on villages and military atrocities in northern Karen State have continued unabated. Nevertheless, local villagers continue to resist such abuse and speak out, where possible, against its daily perpetration. This report comprises a translated account of the situation in Ler Muh Bplaw village tract, Lu Thaw township, Papun District written not by a KHRG researcher or any other of the organisation’s staff, but rather by a local village head from Ler Muh Bplaw village tract who testifies in his own words to the atrocities that continue to undermine rural lives and livelihoods. The report discusses SPDC operations including attacks on villages and the killing of civilians as well as the state of health and education for the communities of Ler Muh Bplaw village tract. The text of the report is supported with photographs taken by KHRG field researchers.
Forced labour, extortion and the state of education in Dooplaya District  [Field report]	Oct 16th, 2007
As world attention focused last month on the large-scale public demonstrations in Rangoon and other major urban centres around Burma, the magnitude of domestic frustration over the military's systematic impoverishment of the civilian population became evident to the international community. This frustration is keenly felt by the people of Dooplaya District in southern Karen State and found expression last month in local anti-regime gatherings. Amongst other abuses, forced labour and extortion in their many guises have been leading causes in the economic collapse and resultant frustration with militarisation in Dooplaya District. A crucial factor making these abuses even more oppressive in Dooplaya and other areas of Karen State as compared with central Burma is the multiplicity of armed groups which compete with each other and with the region's civilian administration for the spoils of village-level exploitation. Across Dooplaya District the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Army; the regime's district and township-level civilian administration; the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA); and the Karen Peace Force (KPF) all continue to fatten themselves off of the toil of village labour. Amongst other detrimental consequences, this persistent predation has undermined opportunities for educational advancement and the application of such education beyond traditional village livelihoods or subservience within the local system of militarisation.
Protests spread in rural Karen State  [News Bulletin]	Sep 25th, 2007
While international attention follows the rapid escalation of protests in the main urban centres in Burma, a growing movement of local anti-regime demonstrations has likewise emerged in Karen State. At least 330 Buddhist and Christian Karen villagers, including monks, teachers, parents and students from 10 villages in Dooplaya District gathered together on Monday, September 24th to share information about the country-wide protest movement; express their solidarity with the anti-regime sentiment; and offer prayers according to their particular religious beliefs. While the extent of military control in Karen State, the greater impunity with which local SPDC personnel operate and the smaller population size of individual communities all restrict the scale of open protest in this area, these acts are nevertheless significant as demonstrations of solidarity with the broader protest movement.
State agencies, armed groups and the proliferation of oppression in Thaton District  [Field report]	Sep 24th, 2007
Throughout SPDC-controlled areas of Karen State the regime has been developing civilian agencies as extensions of military authority. On top of this, the junta has continued to strengthen the more traditional forms of militarisation and, at least in Thaton District, has firmly backed the expansion of DKBA military operations to control the civilian population and eradicate KNLA forces which continue to actively patrol the area. The people of Thaton District thus face a myriad of State agencies and armed groups which have overburdened them with demands for labour, money and supplies. While engaging with these groups, addressing the demands placed on them and attending to their own livelihoods, local villagers have sought to manage a delicate balance of seemingly impossible weights.
Shouldering the Burden of Militarisation: SPDC, DKBA and KPF order documents and forced labour since September 2006  [Orders report]	Aug 14th, 2007
Forced labour continues to be among the most pervasive of human rights abuses in Burma and a leading cause of displacement, both internally and as refugees into neighbouring countries. Villagers living in Karen State have expressly condemned the regular, and in many cases daily, demands for forced labour imposed upon them. According to these individuals forced labour has lead to collapsing livelihoods, increased poverty and severe difficulties in addressing health, education and other community needs; leading them to respond with varied strategies including flight and displacement. Such views have been consistent in thousands of KHRG interviews with local villagers conducted over the past 15 years. Despite these testimonies the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the military regime currently ruling Burma, continues to deny the practice of forced labour. However, order documents explicitly demanding forced labour and signed by SPDC officers are regularly collected by KHRG field researchers working throughout Karen State. These documents provide tangible evidence of the continued large-scale perpetration of forced labour in Karen State by military officers and civilian officials of the SPDC, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the Karen Peace Force. This report has been written to provide contextual details on the widespread and systematic perpetration of forced labour as background to a compendium of 145 order documents sent to villages in Karen State since September 2006, translations of which are included in the appendices below. These order documents have been compiled for submission to the International Labour Organisation’s Committee of Experts meeting in September 2007.
Landmines, Killings and Food Destruction: Civilian life in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Aug 9th, 2007
The attacks against civilians continue as the SPDC increases its military build-up in Toungoo District. Enforcing widespread restrictions on movement backed up by a shoot-on-sight policy, the SPDC has executed at least 38 villagers in Toungoo since January 2007. On top of this, local villagers face the ever present danger of landmines, many of which were manufactured in China, which the Army has deployed around homes, churches and forest paths. Combined with the destruction of covert agricultural hill fields and rice supplies,these attacks seek to undermine food security and make life unbearable in areas outside of consolidated military control. However, as those living under SPDC rule have found, the constant stream of military demands for labour, money and other supplies undermine livelihoods, village economies and community efforts to address health, education and social needs. Civilians in Toungoo must therefore choose between a situation of impoverishment and subjugation under SPDC rule, evasion in forested hiding sites with the constant threat of military attack, or a relatively stable yet uprooted life in refugee camps away from their homeland. This report documents just some of the human rights abuses perpetrated by SPDC forces against villagers in Toungoo District up to July 2007.
The Compounding Consequences of DKBA Oppression: Abuse, poverty and food insecurity in Thaton District  [Field report]	Jul 9th, 2007
As the principal means of establishing control over the people of Thaton District, the SPDC has supported a more aggressive DKBA role in the area. With the junta's political, military and financial backing the DKBA has sought to expand its numbers, strengthen its position vis-à-vis the civilian population and eradicate the remaining KNU/KNLA presence in the region. To those ends, the DKBA has used forced labour, looting, extortion, land confiscation and movement restrictions and embarked on a hostile campaign of forced recruitment from amongst the local population. These abuses have eroded village livelihoods, leading to low harvest yields and wholly failed crops; problems which compound over time and progressively deepen poverty and malnourishment. With the onset of the rainy season and the 2007 cultivation period, villagers in Thaton District are faced with depleting provisions. This food insecurity will require that many harvest their 2007 crop as early as October while still unripe. The low yield of an early harvest, lost time spent on forced labour and the harmful fallout of further extortion and other abuses will all combine to ensure once again that villagers in Thaton District confront food shortages and increasing poverty.
Provoking Displacement in Toungoo District: Forced labour, restrictions and attacks  [Field report]	May 30th, 2007
The first half of 2007 has seen the continued flight of civilians from their homes and land in response to ongoing State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military operations in Toungoo District. While in some cases this displacement is prompted by direct military attacks against their villages, many civilians living in Toungoo District have told KHRG that the primary catalyst for relocation has been the regular demands for labour, money and supplies and the restrictions on movement and trade imposed by SPDC forces. These everyday abuses combine over time to effectively undermine civilian livelihoods, exacerbate poverty and make subsistence untenable. Villagers threatened with such demands and restrictions frequently choose displacement in response – initially to forest hiding sites located nearby and then farther afield to larger Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps or across the border to Thailand-based refugee camps. This report presents accounts of ongoing abuses in Toungoo District committed by SPDC forces during the period of January to May 2007 and their role in motivating local villagers to respond with flight and displacement.
Child soldiers recruited to support expansion of the KNU-KNLA Peace Council  [News Bulletin]	May 28th, 2007
The recent KNU splinter group, the KNU-KNLA Peace Council, in seeking to expand its military forces, consolidate its presence in Pa'an District and put forth a show of strength, has embarked on an intensive recruitment campaign, including the recruitment of Karen children under the age of 18 from homes in Mae La refugee camp and Thai-Karen villages in Tak Province, Thailand. Tricked into joining and prevented from leaving, some of these children have escaped and returned to their homes whilst the parents of other missing children are trying to secure their sons' release and fear for their safety.
Response to UN statement on KHRG report  [KHRG Commentary]	Apr 26th, 2007
Following the release on Tuesday April 24th 2007 of KHRG's report Development by Decree: The politics of poverty and control in Karen State, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator's Office released a press statement addressing some of the issues raised in the KHRG report. This KHRG commentary is in the format of a media statement to follow up with the UN response by addressing some of the issues raised by the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator.
Development by Decree: The politics of poverty and control in Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
The limits of the new ILO mechanism and potential misrepresentation of forced labour in Burma  [KHRG Commentary]	Apr 10th, 2007
In late February 2007, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) reached an agreement regarding the implementation of a new mechanism intended to allow individuals to submit complaints of forced labour without fear of retaliation. External observers have reported that this agreement represents a positive step towards effectively addressing forced labour in Burma. However, as this commentary points out, the potential usefulness and effectiveness of the new mechanism is suspect. By outlining some of the ways in which the SPDC actively obstructs villagers from accessing such mechanisms and the inability of the ILO to ensure protection for civilians from retaliation, this commentary warns that the results of this agreement will likely misrepresent the true scale of forced labour in Burma. It further calls for the ILO to publicly acknowledge these limitations, so that the SPDC is unable to use the lack of complaints to deny the existence of forced labour.
KHRG Photo Gallery 2006  [Photoset]	Mar 31st, 2007
This gallery presents 1,000 photos taken by KHRG researchers in the field throughout 2006 and the first days of 2007, divided into thematic sections including a major section documenting the SPDC's attacks on northern Karen villages throughout the year and the response of villagers living there. First released in November 2006, it has been updated with close to 400 new photos in March 2007.
Road construction, attacks on displaced communities and the impact on education in northern Papun District  [Field report]	Mar 26th, 2007
In the ongoing offensive against villagers in northern Karen State, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been working to develop infrastructure supportive of increased military control. The construction of new bases and vehicle roads serve this objective as they obstruct the efforts of local communities to evade army patrols and sustain their livelihoods in areas beyond the reach of SPDC forces. Increased control, in turn, allows the SPDC to more easily exploit rural communities for labour, food and other supplies in support of military structures. This report examines how military deployment and the construction of new roads and bases further into Papun District have led local villagers to respond by evading encroaching army units despite the increasing difficulty of this tactic, and how the subsequent displacement has affected children’s access to education.
Over a hundred villagers cross into Thailand following joint SPDC and DKBA attacks in Dooplaya District  [News Bulletin]	Mar 9th, 2007
On March 8th 2007 State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Light Infantry Division (LID) #22 arriving from their base at Ghaw Lay in joint operation with Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Battalions #907 and #906 attacked Kler Law Kyeh village along with the neighbouring Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Company #3 base, which both lie in eastern Kawkareik township, Dooplaya District. On approach to the KNLA base, SPDC and DKBA soldiers launched mortars and fired their guns into Kler Law Kyeh village. In response, local villagers have fled the area and approximately 140 of them have crossed into Thailand north of the town of Umphang with more expected to continue arriving.
State repression and the creation of poverty in southern Karen State  [Field report]	Feb 23rd, 2007
With most of southern Karen State's Dooplaya district under SPDC control since 1997, villagers face increasing regimentation, restrictions and exploitation by the SPDC and its armed allies that make life virtually unsustainable. The main aspects of this regimentation were already described in detail by KHRG in the report 'Setting Up the Systems of Repression: The progressive regimentation of civilian life in Dooplaya District' (KHRG #2006-04, September 2006). This report follows the same themes, updating the situation by drawing on KHRG's continued interviewing and reporting in the field since September 2006. Forced agricultural programmes, forced labour, and forced recruitment to SPDC-run organisations and administrative structures are combining with systematic state-run extortion, looting, and confiscation of land and crops to artificially create poverty and hunger, forcing many villagers to send family members to Thailand to work illegally for the family's survival. While some UN agencies claim that these are simple matters of poverty that have nothing to do with state repression, villagers are increasingly taking matters into their own hands by finding daring and creative ways to evade or refuse the demands placed on them by the SPDC and other authorities and undermine the power of these groups over their lives.
Bullets and Bulldozers: The SPDC offensive continues in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Feb 19th, 2007
The first two months of 2007 have done nothing to lessen the intensity of attacks against the villagers of Toungoo District. SPDC forces continue to send in more troops and supplies, build new camps and upgrade older ones using forced village labour, convict porters and heavy machinery brought in for this purpose. Local villagers have been the ones to suffer from the increased military build-up and infrastructure 'development' as such programmes have put the SPDC in a stronger position to enforce their authority over civilians in rural areas and undermine the efforts of local peoples to evade military forces and maintain their livelihoods. Employing the new roadways and camps to shuttle troops and supplies deeper into areas beyond military control, SPDC forces continue to expand their reach in terms of extortion of funds, food and supplies; extraction of forced labour; and restriction of all civilian movement, travel and trade. These abuses have combined to exacerbate poverty, worsen the humanitarian situation and restrict the options of villagers living in these areas.
Forced Labour, Extortion, and Festivities: The SPDC and DKBA burden on villagers in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Dec 22nd, 2006
In Pa'an District of central Karen State, Burmese authorities impose strict controls on the movements and activities of all villagers while also taking their land, money and livestock, using them as forced labour, and forcing them to join state paramilitary organisations. Muslims are being forcibly evicted from their villages into relocation camps to make way for new SPDC army camps. Simultaneously the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) acts on behalf of the SPDC in many areas, extending the regime's control in return for impunity to exploit and extort from the civilian population. The double burden of forced labour, extortion, restrictions and forced conscription imposed by two sets of authorities takes a heavy toll on the villagers, yet in a cruel irony they are also being forced to give money and unpaid child labour to prepare New Year festivities where the DKBA plays host to foreigners and Rangoon movie stars.
Oppression by proxy in Thaton District  [Field report]	Dec 21st, 2006
With the onset of the cold season the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) has been able to push ahead with military attacks against villages and displaced communities in the northern districts of Karen State. In Thaton District and other areas further south, however, the military is more firmly in control, fewer displaced communities are able to remain in hiding, and SPDC rule is facilitated by the presence of its ally the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). By increasingly relying on DKBA forces to administer Thaton, the SPDC has been able to free up soldiers and resources which can then be deployed elsewhere. To force the civilian population into submission, the DKBA has scoured villages throughout Thaton - detaining, interrogating and torturing villagers and conscripting them to serve as army porters. Commensurate with its increased control over the civilian population, DKBA soldiers have subjected villagers to regular extortion, arbitrary and excessive 'taxation', forced labour, land confiscation and restrictions on movement, trade and education which all serve to support ongoing military rule in Thaton. By systematising control over local villagers, the SPDC and DKBA have been able to implement 'development' projects that financially benefit and further entrench the military hierarchy. Amongst such initiatives, the construction in Thaton District of the United Nations-supported Asian Highway, connecting Burma with neighbouring countries, has involved uncompensated land confiscation and forced labour.
Dignity in the Shadow of Oppression: The abuse and agency of Karen women under militarisation  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SPDC forces attack rice harvest to force villagers into 'new towns'  [News Bulletin]	Nov 20th, 2006
It is now rice harvest season, and following the end of the monsoon rains the SPDC has sent more troops into northern Karen areas to force all villagers out of the hills. Having already shelled and burned the villages, their present tactic is to patrol the rice fields to keep the villagers away from harvesting their crops so that the rice will be destroyed, while in some cases their troops trample or uproot the crop themselves. Knowing that this crop is essential to the continued survival of villagers in the region, the SPDC hopes to force them out of the area by destroying it and has ordered its battalions to establish several 'new towns' along the roads where villagers are to be interned, controlled, and exploited for forced labour. Most villagers, however, are more likely to flee toward Thailand than submit to life in these internment camps.
One Year On: Continuing abuses in Toungoo District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Papun Update: SPDC attacks on villages continue  [Field report]	Oct 6th, 2006
As the rainy season nears its end, SPDC operations in northern Papun District persist. Civilians living in Lu Thaw township in northern Papun District who fled from military attacks on their villages earlier in the current offensive have been joined by those more recently displaced. So long as military forces remain active in the area of their abandoned homes, these villagers are unable to return to tend their crops, collect possessions and reclaim their land. In these situations of displacement, villagers confront daily food shortages, unhygienic conditions and the constant threat of detection by military forces. With the establishment of new army camps, the likely construction of more roads and a possible large-scale relocation site at Pwah Ghaw, the ability of displaced villagers to maintain their livelihood, evade military forces and retain some measure of control over their land is becoming highly restricted. Nevertheless, the threat of regular abuse and ceaseless demands in military-controlled areas prompt villagers living in hiding to continue to evade capture and military subjugation.
Hunger Wielded as a Weapon in Thaton District  [News Bulletin]	Sep 20th, 2006
In March and April 2006, SPDC and DKBA units deliberately targeted and destroyed dozens of hill fields belonging to villagers from three villages in Bilin township of Thaton District in the southwest of Karen State. Burning the fields too early in the growing cycle severely restricts the proportion of the field that can be planted, which in turn limits the size of the harvest. Both the SPDC and the DKBA know this and the burning of these fields represents a systematic campaign of crop destruction intended to obstruct the villagers' access to food and in effect starve them out of the hills. The villagers already suffer from food shortages, and this latest move by the military will only aggravate the situation. The next paddy harvest due in November will be severely reduced as a result, and these villagers will face even more serious food shortages for the coming year.
SPDC Attacks on Villages in Nyaunglebin and Papun Districts and the Civilian Response  [Field report]	Sep 11th, 2006
Despite the difficulty of sustaining regular military operations under rainy season conditions, the SPDC has continued to press its soldiers to continue the northern Karen State offensive that began in November 2005. Rather than a campaign against armed opposition groups, however, the SPDC has been engaged in hostilities against rural villagers living outside of direct military control in areas of Toungoo, Nyaunglebin and Papun Districts. Soldiers have bombarded villages with high-powered mortars, razed homes and food stores, burned crops and shot fleeing civilians on sight. By attacking in this manner, the SPDC has attempted to force all villagers into military-controlled villages and relocation sites in the plains, along car roads and near army bases. At these sites the military can more easily exploit civilians for the food, labour, finances and supplies needed to support individual military personnel and the wider structures of militarisation. However, the SPDC has so far been unsuccessful in bringing all civilians under their control as villagers have consistently fled to evade advancing troops. In such situations of displacement, villagers have employed their own strategies to resist the militarisation of their lives and retain their dignity in the face of systematic human rights abuses. This report presents information on SPDC military attacks against villages in Nyaunglebin and Papun Districts of northern Karen State as well as the responses and resistance strategies of local villagers during the period of March to June 2006.
Setting Up the Systems of Repression: The progressive regimentation of civilian life in Dooplaya District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Toungoo District: The civilian response to human rights violations  [Field report]	Aug 15th, 2006
Attacks on villages in Toungoo and other northern Karen districts by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) since late 2005 have led to extensive displacement and some international attention, but little of this has focused on the continuing lives of the villagers involved. In this report KHRG's Karen researchers in the field describe how these attacks have been affecting local people, and how these people have responded. The SPDC's forced relocation, village destruction, shoot-on-sight orders and blockades on the movement of food and medicines have killed many and created pervasive suffering, but the villagers' continued refusal to submit to SPDC authority has caused the military to fail in its objective of bringing the entire civilian population under direct control. This is a struggle which SPDC forces cannot win, but they may never stop trying.
SPDC military begins pincer movement, adds new camps in Papun district  [News Bulletin]	Aug 9th, 2006
Two large multi-battalion columns operating under SPDC Military Operations Command #15 have begun a pincer movement to force all villagers out of the hills west of the Yunzalin River (Bway Loh Kloh) in northern Papun district of Karen State. Tactical Operations Command #2 has pushed north from Naw Yo Hta and has now set up a new base at Baw Kaw Plaw, just north of Kay Pu; while Tactical Operations Command #3 has approached the same area from the north, coming down from Bu Sah Kee and establishing themselves at a new camp at Si Day. This pincer movement and the establishment of these two new Army camps ensure that the hill villagers in the northern tip of Papun district will remain displaced for the coming months and will lose their entire rice harvest, creating serious concerns about their food security and survival over the coming year.
KHRG's 300th Report: Cause for Celebration?  [KHRG Commentary]	Aug 1st, 2006
On July 29th the Karen Human Rights Group released our 300th report. Though this is a milestone for the organisation, we see this as cause for reflection rather than celebration, on how the situation and our work have evolved in the 14 years since our formation in 1992.
Forced Labour, Extortion and Abuses in Papun District  [Field report]	Jul 29th, 2006
As the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) continues its Karen State offensive into the rainy season, villagers living in Lu Thaw township in northern Papun District have come under increasing pressure as a consequence of the military encroachment onto their land. KHRG field researchers have documented attacks on villages, destruction of crops and targeted killings in the area. Villagers residing in Dweh Loh and Bu Tho townships further south, outside the area of the systematic offensive against villages, confront a different pattern of abuse involving constant demands for labour, money, food and building supplies. These villagers are confronted with a situation of heightened insecurity as a consequence of the persistent demands of SPDC and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) forces.
Forced Relocation, Restrictions and Abuses in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Jul 10th, 2006
This report presents information on ongoing abuses in Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) District, Karen State committed by SPDC forces during the period of March to May 2006. Attacks on hill villagers have continued as SPDC units seek to depopulate the hills and force all villagers to relocate to military-controlled villages in the plains and along roadways. However, those villagers living in SPDC-controlled areas are subject as well to continued abuses including arbitrary arrest and detention, extortion, restricted movement and forced labour.
The Ongoing Oppression of Thaton District: Forced Labour, Extortion, and Food Insecurity  [Field report]	Jul 7th, 2006
Thaton District suffers some of the heaviest SPDC control of all seven of the Karen districts. Most of the villagers in this region already live under direct SPDC control. In other districts further north where their control is not so extensive, the SPDC is mounting a massive offensive against civilian villagers with the intent of making the situation in those areas more closely resemble that which is already present in Thaton District. Villagers in Thaton District are systematically exploited for forced labour and extortion by all of the numerous armed groups operating in the district. The SPDC and the DKBA stand out as the worst offenders: every year villagers are ordered to serve as porters for the military, repair the roads which now cross the district, and supply vast quantities of bamboo and roofing thatch to the SPDC and the DKBA which is then sold for profit, none of which ever filters back down to the villagers. The villagers are struggling under the relentless demands. Many are no longer able to acquire enough to eat. Yet even under such extreme totalitarian control, troops continue to be moved into the district, further tightening the noose around the necks of the villagers.
New SPDC military moves force more villagers to flee  [News Bulletin]	Jul 4th, 2006
The SPDC is continuing its attacks on Karen hill villages throughout northern Karen State, trying to entirely depopulate the northern hills. SPDC columns have regrouped and resupplied and are now launching attacks against undefended villages in hill regions not previously reached by the offensive. Unlike attacks thus far, several Military Operations Commands and a Light Infantry Division are now coordinating their attacks across several districts. If successful, this offensive threatens to completely annihilate the unique way of life and culture of the hill Karen, a distinct group within the Karen population, by either forcing them into relocation sites where they cannot practice their culture and livelihood, or simply killing them off and destroying all remnants of their existence.
Convict Porters: Falsely charged, brutally abused, and unable to go home  [News Bulletin]	Jun 22nd, 2006
As the SPDC offensive in northern Karen regions continues, dozens of forced labour porters are escaping from SPDC columns every week. Most of them are convicts taken from prisons far away in northern Burma. They tell of imprisonment on bogus charges, constant extortion by authorities, extreme brutality at the hands of the Army and the murder of their fellow porters. The lucky few who escape end up in the care of the Karen National Union, who must feed them and care for their wounds with no outside aid. Worse yet, they are trapped far from home: the road home for them is blocked by the Burmese and Thai armies, and almost no one in the outside world is willing to give help or advocate for 'convicts' regardless of how unjustly they were imprisoned or how brutally they have been treated.
Without Respite: Renewed Attacks on Villages and Internal Displacement in Toungoo District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Offensive columns shell and burn villages, round up villagers in northern Papun and Toungoo districts  [News Bulletin]	Jun 7th, 2006
Since KHRG's last bulletin on June 1, SPDC troops in northern Papun district continue to escalate their attacks, shooting villagers, burning villages and destroying ricefields. Undefended villages in far northern Papun district are now being shelled with powerful 120mm mortars. Three battalions from Toungoo district have rounded up hundreds of villagers as porters and are detaining their families in schools in case they're needed; this column is now heading south with its porters, apparently intending to trap displaced villagers in a pincer between themselves and the troops coming north from Papun district. A similar trapping movement is being performed along the Bilin river, as 8 battalions come from two directions to wipe out every village in their path. Up to 4,000 villagers in Papun district's far north have been displaced in the past week, and 1,500 to 2,000 more along the Bilin River.
SPDC troops commence full offensive in Papun district  [News Bulletin]	Jun 1st, 2006
Two weeks ago (in Bulletin 2006-B4) KHRG noted the arrival of new SPDC battalions in Papun district of northeastern Karen State and warned that the SPDC offensive against Karen villagers was about to expand into this district. These attacks have now begun. Over the past week, three SPDC columns from three separate bases have fanned out over the northern half of the district and have begun burning villages and food supplies and hunting villagers. More troops are expected to arrive soon to form a fourth column. The columns are avoiding Karen resistance forces to attack civilian villagers. Villagers are already fleeing, carrying what they can through the rains, and several thousand could be displaced over the next week. Now more than ever, decisive international action is urgently required.
Toungoo District: Update on the Dam on the Day Loh River  [News Bulletin]	May 30th, 2006
Over the past ten years the SPDC has undertaken numerous 'development projects' across Karen State, consistently claiming that these are purely for the good of the people. Such projects however are anything but, invariably bringing with them an increase in human rights violations in the area surrounding the development site. Villages are typically forcibly relocated and their inhabitants are used as forced labour. One such project is a hydroelectricity power plant that is to be built on the Day Loh River in Toungoo District. In 2005, KHRG examined the activities of 2,000 SPDC Army troops who moved into the region to secure the area surrounding the dam site. This report serves as an update of the dam situation, incorporating information which may be possible evidence of the complicity of foreign corporations, and explores the possibility that the imminent construction of this project and others like it are part of the motivation behind the current offensive underway in northern Karen State.
"We have hands the same as them": Struggles for local sovereignty and livelihoods by internally displaced Karen villagers in Burma  [Article or paper]	May 29th, 2006
This paper challenges the common view that Karen displacement is ‘conflict-induced’, that villagers are helpless bystanders who flee their homes to escape a context of armed conflict. It examines the nature and dynamics of Karen internal displacement through perspectives expressed by villagers themselves, and finds it to be an ongoing and fluid process of villagers evading state control while attempting to retain access to their land and livelihoods, rather than a spatial displacement from zones of armed conflict. The primary cause of displacement is not armed conflict, but state efforts to consolidate territorial sovereignty over civilians who are used to local-level sovereignty and ‘non-state’ identities. Villagers respond with survival strategies which in themselves constitute resistance to state control of their land, livelihoods, and lives – causing the state to view and treat them as the enemy. The paper argues that this is why the recent ceasefire did not bring an end to Karen displacement, and that it also cannot be resolved through the ‘return’, ‘reintegration’ and state-directed aid espoused by the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and by some international actors, which would only represent victory for the state in this conflict. Instead, it advocates recognising and supporting villagers’ efforts to resist state control and retain local sovereignty over their lands and livelihoods. (This paper was presented at the “Land, Poverty, Social Justice and Development” conference in The Hague, The Netherlands in January 2006. It updates and refines the ideas presented in the earlier KHRG working paper “Sovereignty, Survival and Resistance: Contending Perspectives on Karen internal displacement in Burma”)
Covering up Genocide: Gambari's Betrayal  [KHRG Commentary]	May 26th, 2006
Just as the international outcry against the SPDC attacks on Karen civilians reached a peak, UN Under-secretary general Ibrahim Gambari visited Rangoon on May 18-20. But instead of demanding an end to the attacks, Gambari focused the discussions on releasing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and on SPDC opportunities to receive more foreign aid. Since his visit he has embarked on a public relations campaign, claiming the SPDC is "turning a new page" and whipping up media frenzy by suggesting they might release Daw Suu, despite receiving no promise of this. This Commentary argues that the main purpose of his visit was to divert attention away from the Karen offensive so the UN could once again evade its obligation to act when genocide is occurring. Unfortunately it has worked: the Karen situation is once again little more than a media footnote, while all eyes turn to Suu Kyi. Even if she is released the killing of Karen villagers will go on, but will anyone pay attention?
Villagers displaced as SPDC offensive expands into Papun district  [News Bulletin]	May 16th, 2006
In recent months thousands of SPDC troops have been sweeping through the hills of Toungoo and Nyaunglebin districts of northern Karen State, burning villages and food supplies and shooting villagers with the aim of forcing all hill villagers to move to areas where they can be controlled by the military. In the past few weeks this campaign has been expanded into Papun district, where it has already displaced over 1,000 villagers. On May 11th seven new SPDC battalions arrived in the district, so there are now 27 battalions with 4,000-5,000 troops poised to launch a major offensive against villagers in Papun district which could lead to the destruction of hundreds of villages and the displacement of thousands more people. Unlike previous years, all of these offensives appear set to continue right through the coming rainy season.
SPDC operations in Kler Lweh Htoo (Nyaunglebin) district  [Field report]	Apr 30th, 2006
Since November 2005 the SPDC military has been sending more troops into Nyaunglebin District of northeastern Karen State in an attempt to force villagers out of the hills and gain total control of the area. Heavily armed patrol columns have been burning villages, destroying crops and shooting villagers, both adults and children, on sight. The SPDC columns are avoiding resistance forces, focusing their attacks instead on undefended villages because it is the villagers they are after. Even in plains areas already strongly controlled by SPDC forces, villages are being burned and their occupants herded into relocation sites, while Army units steal their food supplies and torture their village elders as a means of intimidation. These activities have increased even more since February 2006, with researchers in the area reporting that these are the worst SPDC attacks against villagers since 1997.
Civilians as Targets  [KHRG Commentary]	Apr 30th, 2006
This Commentary takes a closer look at the SPDC's ongoing offensive against civilian villages in northern Karen State which has already displaced over 16,000 villagers and shows no sign of abating. Going beyond the images of burned villages and people hiding in the forest, it discusses the offensive's motivating factors, its tactics, why the SPDC is specifically targeting the villagers and how the villagers see their position.
Abuses in SPDC-controlled areas of Papun district  [Field report]	Apr 29th, 2006
This report speaks of the routine abuses being suffered by villagers supposedly 'living in peace' under SPDC control. Instead, villagers here tell of SPDC soldiers poisoning their livestock, confiscating their land for Army camps, burning their homes and relocating their villages for their own convenience. Forced labour is constant, and arbitrary detention with torture is a routine occurrence. Stories from the hundreds of convict porters being brought into the district also tell of the brutality and corruption they have suffered at the hands of the Burmese justice system and the military.
Interview with an SPDC child soldier  [Field report]	Apr 26th, 2006
The SPDC claims that there are no child soldiers in its army and has appointed a Committee to spread this story, while independent outside reports reveal the Burma Army as having more child soldiers than any other army or country in the world. Boys as young as 11 are deliberately targeted by recruiters who trick or beat them into joining, record their ages as 18, and buy and sell them like cattle. They are treated brutally in training, and in the field they are forced to loot villages to survive. This report lets a 15 year old deserter tell his own story, which reveals that the past five years have not brought any improvement in the SPDC's record on recruitment or treatment of child soldiers.
KHRG Photo Gallery: 2005  [Photoset]	Apr 6th, 2006
Continuing from Photo Set 2005-A released in May 2005, this gallery presents over 300 photos taken by KHRG researchers in the field throughout 2005 and the first days of 2006, divided into 12 thematic sections including two special sections documenting SPDC attacks on villages in Toungoo and Nyaunglebin districts.
Recent Attacks on Villages in Southeastern Toungoo District Send Thousands Fleeing into the Forests and to Thailand  [News Bulletin]	Mar 16th, 2006
Since November 2005, the SPDC has been mounting military-style assaults on civilian villages in Toungoo District, causing thousands of villagers to flee into the surrounding forests or to head for refugee camps in Thailand. To illustrate this, this bulletin pays special attention to the attack on Hee Daw Khaw village on November 26th 2005, and its subsequent destruction on November 28th 2005.
Attempted rapes and other abuses in northern Karen districts  [News Bulletin]	Mar 15th, 2006
This bulletin documents the resumption of full-scale forced labour in the villages of central Toungoo District and increases in extortion and forced labour imposed on villagers in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. The continued impunity of SPDC soldiers to commit violent abuses is reflected in the stories of attempted rapes which have occurred in both districts.
Pa'an District: Land confiscation, forced labour and extortion undermining villagers' livelihoods  [Field report]	Feb 11th, 2006
Villagers in northern Pa'an District of central Karen State say their livelihoods are under serious threat due to exploitation by SPDC military authorities and by their Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) allies who rule as an SPDC proxy army in much of the region. Villages in the vicinity of the DKBA headquarters are forced to give much of their time and resources to support the headquarters complex, while villages directly under SPDC control face rape, arbitrary detention and threats to keep them compliant with SPDC demands. The SPDC plans to expand Dta Greh (a.k.a. Pain Kyone) village into a town in order to strengthen its administrative control over the area, and is confiscating about half of the village's productive land without compensation to build infrastructure which includes offices, army camps and a hydroelectric power dam - destroying the livelihoods of close to 100 farming families. Local villagers, who are already struggling to survive under the weight of existing demands, fear further forced labour and extortion as the project continues.
SPDC road construction plans creating problems for civilians  [News Bulletin]	Jan 27th, 2006
In November 2005 a large number of the SPDC's garrison troops in eastern Papun District were replaced by offensive troops, a possible indication of more aggressive military action to bring the region under control. In December, SPDC forces in the area began work on three new roads to the Salween River, possibly to secure the region for construction of the planned Salween River dams. The SPDC officer in charge told local village heads that he doesn't care how many of their fields are taken or destroyed to make way for the roads. Local villagers also fear they will be used as human shields in front of road construction equipment, and as forced labour to maintain the roads and support the troops coming in to secure them. Meanwhile, displaced villagers who have been evading SPDC control in the region hurried to finish and hide their harvest, for fear that the road construction and increased militarisation will make it difficult for them to remain near their fields.
Surviving in Shadow: Widespread Militarization and the Systematic Use of Forced Labour in the Campaign for Control of Thaton District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Nyaunglebin District: SPDC operations along the Shwegyin River, and the villagers' response  [Field report]	Dec 9th, 2005
In late September 2005, State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) forces violated the ceasefire by openly attacking the 9th Battalion headquarters of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) 3rd Brigade in Nyaunglebin District. On September 21st, SPDC troops occupied the 9th Battalion headquarters on the Shwegyin River and remained there until early November. Civilian villages in the area along the boundary of Shwegyin (Hsaw Tee) and Kyauk Kyi (Ler Doh) townships, including Kwih Lah, Ler Wah, and Tee Thu Kee, were deliberately shelled, and villagers fled eastward into the hills. Women, children and the elderly moved higher into the hills, where they immediately set up a temporary school and shared out available rice, while men set up shelters closer to the Shwegyin River where they could monitor and report back on SPDC movements.
Nyaunglebin / Toungoo Districts: Re-emergence of Irregular SPDC Army Soldiers and Karen Splinter Groups in Northern Karen State  [News Bulletin]	Oct 24th, 2005
The SPDC's hand-picked Dam Byan Byaut Kya ('Guerrilla Retaliation') units first began executing villagers in Nyaunglebin District in late 1998, but in recent years their activities declined and it appeared that the ouster of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who allegedly controlled them, may have ended their existence. Since July, however, villagers have reported their re-emergence in northern Nyaunglebin District under a new name - the Pyaung Shin ('to clear all'). Just to the north in Toungoo District a marginal Karen splinter group, calling itself the Nyein Chan Yay A'Pwet ('Peace Group') because it acts as a proxy army for the SPDC, has suddenly moved troops into a former SPDC army camp southeast of Toungoo, apparently under SPDC orders. Both of these moves threaten the security of villagers in northern Nyaunglebin and southern Toungoo Districts, and could be a reflection of more aggressive military strategies being developed by the SPDC since Khin Nyunt's ouster. Among villagers in the region, these developments are sparking fears of increased repression and a possible resumption of SPDC military offensives despite the junta's 'informal ceasefire' with the Karen National Union.
Toungoo District: Civilians displaced by dams, roads, and military control  [Field report]	Aug 19th, 2005
'Development' as implemented by the SPDC in Toungoo District of northern Karen State means dams, roads, military camps, and relocation sites. This report gives examples of how dams and roads are restricting the movement of civilians, bringing more forced labour to their villages, and bringing more extortion and taxation down on their heads. New military camps are confiscating hundreds of acres of productive farmland. Villagers are being forced to fill military roles as sentries for roads and military installations. Forced relocation sites are depriving people not only of their homes and fields, but more importantly of their freedom to support themselves. Many say it is the worst year in memory, and they face a choice between a destitute life doing forced labour in an SPDC relocation site, or a life avoiding SPDC snipers, patrols, and landmines in the hills. The SPDC's scorched-earth 'clearances' of people out of the hills and its repressive development projects in areas it controls are leading to severe food scarcity, widespread disease and mortality in both contexts.
Proliferation of SPDC Army Camps in Nyaunglebin District Leads to Torture, Killings, and Landmine Casualties  [News Bulletin]	Jul 7th, 2005
Since the January 2004 ceasefire between the SPDC regime and the Karen National Union (KNU), the SPDC has established seven new Army bases in Nyaunglebin District, sent in more troops, and since May it has also taken over most of the former Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) bases in the district while DKBA forces have been forced to partially withdraw from the area. All of these SPDC camps have been launching extended patrols throughout the remoter parts of the district. Not only does this increased activity violate the terms of the ceasefire, it is also intensifying the climate of fear and leading to further displacement as the SPDC patrols detain, torture, and shoot to kill villagers in many areas.
Seeing Through the Smoke of Ceasefires; The Changing Faces of Forced Labour; Whose Suffering Counts?; What KHRG is Doing  [KHRG Commentary]	Jun 9th, 2005
Drawing upon recent KHRG reports, this Commentary asks the question why the Karen ceasefire is not generating a human rights dividend for Karen villagers, and looks for the answer in the nature of conflict in Burma. It finds the conflict to be much broader than that between armed entities, pitting villagers against the military junta in a daily struggle for control of their lives. The villagers' role in this struggle is too often ignored, both by outside actors who insist on treating villagers as passive bystanders to their own context, and by activists who seek to subjugate everything to the narrow struggle for an elitist Burmese 'democracy'. Double standards are used to further marginalise rural, agrarian, and non-Burman voices, when the real need now is for these voices to be heard more in political processes. The Commentary also discusses forced labour trends in Karen areas, and the new ways KHRG is documenting the human rights situation.
Continued Militarisation, Killings and Fear in Dooplaya District  [Field report]	Jun 2nd, 2005
This report documents the killings of two villagers by SPDC and DKBA forces in Dooplaya, some of the continuing restrictions and forced labour faced by people living there, and the climate of fear and oppression such abuses are creating. The informal SPDC-KNU ceasefire is not stopping the two sides from shooting at each other, and there is no ceasefire at all barring soldiers from shooting at civilians. Killings and abuses are still carried out with complete impunity, and this is unlikely to change as long as the region remains heavily militarised.
Photo Set 2005-A  [Photoset]	May 27th, 2005
Over 900 photos taken by KHRG researchers in the field from mid 2002 to early 2005, documenting the human rights situation and responses to it by villagers in Karen areas of Burma. This Photo Set contains a photo essay from Nyaunglebin District as well as sections on Attacks on Villages & Village Destruction; Forced Relocation and Restrictions; Detention and Torture; Shootings and Killings; Forced Labour; Food and Livelihoods; Women; Children; Flight & Displacement; Landmines; and Soldiers.
Papun District: Forced Labour, Looting and Road Construction in SPDC-Controlled Areas  [Field report]	May 20th, 2005
Villagers in Papun District who live under the control of nearby SPDC army camps are reporting that this year they are doing less forced labour as porters because convict porters are being brought in, and less forced labour repairing roads because much of this work is being done by SPDC soldiers - but that forced labour as unarmed sentries, Army camp servants, logging for the DKBA, and particularly cutting thatch and bamboo to build and repair SPDC and DKBA army camps, are still taking enough of their time to jeopardise their livelihoods. Worse yet, SPDC soldiers doing road work are destroying the villagers' fields and irrigation systems, putting this year's rice crop under serious threat. This has made the villagers deeply angry and frustrated, but any attempts to protest have been met with threats and gun-barrels. With the SPDC now beginning work on new roads and Army camps to secure the construction of massive dams on the Salween River, this situation is only likely to worsen in the near future.
Nyaunglebin District: Food supplies destroyed, villagers forcibly displaced, and region-wide forced labour as SPDC forces seek control over civilians  [Field report]	May 4th, 2005
Between October 2004 and January 2005 SPDC troops launched forays into the hills of Nyaunglebin District in an attempt to flush villagers down into the plains and a life under SPDC control. Viciously timed to coincide with the rice harvest, the campaign focused on burning crops and landmining the fields to starve out the villagers. Most people fled into the forest, where they now face food shortages and uncertainty about this year's planting and the security of their villages. Meanwhile in the plains, the SPDC is using people in relocation sites and villages they control as forced labour to strengthen the network of roads and Army camps - the main tools of military control over the civilian population - while Army officers plunder people's belongings for personal gain. In both hills and plains, increased militarisation is bringing on food shortages and poverty.
Recent reports of SPDC use of Chemical Weapons are consistent with past KHRG Reports  [News Bulletin]	May 3rd, 2005
A new report released by CSW alleging the SPDC's use of chemical weapons against Karenni Army (KA) soldiers in February 2005 has once again raised the question of Burma's offensive chemical weapons capability. The symptoms identified in those affected appear to be consistent with exposure to a chemical weapon of some sort. The evidence produced in the CSW report also appears to be consistent with research conducted by KHRG following similar occurrences in Karen State a decade ago, suggesting that the SPDC continues to both manufacture and employ chemical weapons.
Pa'an District: Food Security in Crisis for Civilians in Rural Areas  [News Bulletin]	Mar 30th, 2005
This bulletin examines the factors causing many villagers in Pa'an district to say that they now face a deepening food and money shortage crisis which is threatening their health and survival. Based on villagers' testimony, the main factors appear to be recurring forced labour for both SPDC and DKBA authorities, made worse in some areas by orders for farmers to double-crop on their land and the encroachment of new SPDC military bases on villages and farmland.
'Peace', or Control? The SPDC's use of the Karen ceasefire to expand its control and repression of villagers in Toungoo District, Northern Karen State  [Field report]	Mar 22nd, 2005
Under the informal KNU-SPDC ceasefire, the SPDC Army should be scaling down its activities in the hills of Toungoo District, but instead it has increased military operations since December 2004. Using the increased freedom of movement it has gained under the ceasefire, the Army has sent out columns to consolidate control over civilians in the remotest parts of this mountainous district. Using villagers as forced labour to improve military access roads and haul supplies to support remote outposts, the Army is trying to flush out the displaced villagers who have evaded its control thus far. As the Army gains freedom of movement, villagers throughout the District find themselves less free to move, their trade routes, access to food and medicine markets, and even the paths to their fields blocked by SPDC movement restrictions, checkpoints, Army patrols and landmines.
Sovereignty, Survival and Resistance: Contending Perspectives on Karen Internal Displacement in Burma  [Article or paper]	Mar 1st, 2005
This paper examines the nature and dynamics of Karen internal displacement in Burma through perspectives expressed by villagers themselves, and then contrasts their view of the situation with that projected by international labels and definitions. Initially, it contrasts the prevalent way of viewing internal displacement, which it argues is built upon state sovereignty, and a ‘popular sovereignty’ perspective which attempts to understand displacement by beginning from the viewpoint of local people rather than internationally-accepted definitions. It then looks at Karen internal displacement using the latter perspective and finds it to be an ongoing and sociocultural process rather than a spatial displacement from ‘home’.
Forced Labour and the DKBA in T'Nay Hsah Township, Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Feb 22nd, 2005
As SPDC and DKBA units in Pa'an District use the SPDC-KNU informal ceasefire as cover to entrench their positions and build up their weapons supplies, villagers in southeastern Pa'an District face forced labour as porters and forced conscription into the DKBA.
Thaton District: Continued Consolidation of SPDC and DKBA Control through the use of Forced Labour, Extortion and Movement Restrictions  [Field report]	Feb 21st, 2005
Villagers in Thaton District hoping for peace and the opportunity to get enough to eat after the ceasefire, have instead found themselves used as forced labour, forced to provide money and building materials and prohibited from going to their fields by SPDC and DKBA soldiers trying to exert more control over the district.
Dooplaya District: Fighting and Human Rights Abuse Still Continue after Ceasefire  [Field report]	Feb 18th, 2005
Despite the 'informal ceasefire' since January 2004 between the SPDC junta and the Karen National Union, armed clashes continue to occur, and villagers in Dooplaya District of southern Karen State continue to suffer from forced labour, forced relocations, rape, looting and extortion by SPDC forces and their allies.
SPDC Violates the Ceasefire During Karen New Year Celebrations; the Attack on Kah Law Ghaw Village, Dooplaya District  [News Bulletin]	Feb 3rd, 2005
On January 11 2005, SPDC forces violated the fragile ceasefire and attacked a civilian Karen New Year celebration with mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Hundreds of villagers were caught between SPDC troops dug in at their village, and Thai soldiers who forced them back across the border after they fled.
Enduring Hunger and Repression: Food Scarcity, Internal Displacement, and the Continued Use of Forced Labour in Toungoo District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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].
Papun and Nyaunglebin Districts: Continued Oppression During the Ceasefire  [Field report]	Sep 9th, 2004
The Karen National Union (KNU) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) declared a verbal ceasefire in January 2004 as a first step towards future discussions. Consequently, both the KNU and the SPDC reportedly ordered their military units to cease offensive operations. Talks were again held in January and February, but no agreements were made regarding the delineation of territory, the return of villagers to their villages, a cessation of forced labour or the ending of any other human rights abuses. The SPDC has instead used the ceasefire as an opportunity to resupply its troops and to improve its road network without having to fear ambushes from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Local villagers have been conscripted to provide much of the labour needed to do this.
Eastern Pa’an District: Forced Labour, Food Security and the Consolidation of Control  [Field report]	Mar 23rd, 2004
While the Karen National Union (KNU) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) discuss the terms for a continued ceasefire, conditions for villagers in eastern Pa’an District (see Map 1) remain virtually unchanged. The SPDC and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) are continuing in their attempts to consolidate their control over the area. For the villagers in the area the efforts of the SPDC and DKBA have meant a continued reliance on forced labour and constant demands for building materials, food and money from the villagers. Meeting the SPDC and DKBA’s demands has left the villagers without enough time to work their own fields making food security an increasingly serious issue in the district.
SPDC & DKBA Orders to villages: Papun, Pa'an, Thaton, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo, & Dooplaya Districts  [Orders report]	Aug 22nd, 2003
This report presents the direct translations of 783 order documents and letters, selected from a total of 1,007 such documents. The orders dictate demands for forced labour, money, food and materials, place restrictions on movements and activities of villagers, and make threats to arrest village elders or destroy villages of those who fail to obey.
Expansion of the Guerrilla Retaliation Units and Food Shortages in Toungoo District of Northern Karen State  [Field report]	Jun 16th, 2003
The situation faced by the villagers of Toungoo District (see Map 1) is worsening as more and more parts of the District are being brought under the control of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) through the increased militarisation of the region. At any one time there are no fewer than a dozen battalions active in the area. Widespread forced labour and extortion continue unabated as in previous years, with all battalions in the District being party to such practices. The imposition of constant forced labour and the extortion of money and food are among the military’s primary occupations in the area. The strategy of the military is not one of open confrontation with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) – the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU) - but of targeting the civilian population as a means of cutting all lines of support and supply for the resistance movement.
Photo Set 2002-A  [Photoset]	Dec 19th, 2002
This photo set contains more than 500 photos and their descriptions which document the human rights situation in Karen areas of Burma. These photos were taken and collected by KHRG since the publication of Photo Set 2001-A in September 2001. The photos in this set were taken in Toungoo, Nyaunglebin, Papun, Thaton, Pa'an and Dooplaya Districts.
Suu Kyi's release covers up Dooplaya offensive; forced labour and forced recruitment; persecution of Muslims  [KHRG Commentary]	Sep 26th, 2002
The early May release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest was welcomed around the world with ecstatic phrases like 'new dawn for Burma' and the assumption that political change must be just around the corner. What none of the hundreds of journalists in Rangoon mentioned, however, is that at the very moment of her release SPDC troops were burning civilian villages and massacring Karen villagers in Dooplaya District. A closer look at the chronology shows that the buildup to Suu Kyi's release and the event itself were carefully calculated to provide a smokescreen for a massive increase in human rights abuses in Karen State. The world obliged by closing its eyes to the suffering of the Karen villagers and continued to do so as the offensive proceeded through the months following her release, while Suu Kyi and her NLD party refused to even mention the offensive at all. Meanwhile, SPDC offensives have also been destroying villages in other districts, and forced labour in many areas is worse than ever before. Forced recruitment by SPDC and its allied forces is a growing problem in many regions. The Commentary also raises the systematic persecution of Muslims throughout Burma, and recent SPDC efforts to instigate anti-Muslim riots in order to divert public anger away from its own abuses and corruption.
Operation Than L'Yet: Forced Displacement, Massacres and Forced Labour in Dooplaya District  [Field report]	Sep 25th, 2002
In January 2002 KHRG released Information Update #2002-U2, in which we documented efforts by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta to consolidate its hold over Dooplaya district of southern Karen State by imposing new administrative structures, restricting the movement of villagers, and using them as forced labour to build new army camps and infrastructure. The Update reported that the SPDC appeared to feel that the area was already "pacified" enough to do these things. However, even as that Update was being released Light Infantry Division 88 was arriving in Dooplaya, soon to unleash a major military operation on the villages there which is still ongoing.
Consolidation of Control: The SPDC and the DKBA in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Sep 7th, 2002
Since 1997 most of Pa’an District in central Karen State (see Map 1) has been firmly controlled by forces of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), with the assistance of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Both groups are still fighting the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA, the armed wing of the Karen National Union) in the Dawna Range area, a strip in the far east of the district adjacent to the border with Thailand, but the remainder of the district sees little fighting, with the KNLA only able to mount small scale hit-and-run guerrilla attacks against SPDC and DKBA positions. In consolidating their control, both the SPDC and the DKBA have been increasingly restricting and exploiting the Karen villagers who make up almost the entire population of the district.
Easy Targets: The Persecution of Muslims in Burma  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Papun and Nyaunglebin Districts: The SPDC’s Dry Season Offensive Operations  [Field report]	Apr 5th, 2002
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) began its 2001-2002 dry season offensive operations with a three-pronged push in Papun District and eastern Nyaunglebin District. This has been followed by moves into northern Papun District and along the Salween River where it forms the border with Thailand (see Map 2: Papun District). The main attacks came at the beginning of the rice harvest season, forcing villagers to leave much of their crop in the fields where some was eaten and the rest destroyed by the SPDC soldiers. Most villagers had little left from the previous year’s harvest and these new attacks almost guarantee that they will not have enough rice to see them through to the next harvest at the end of 2002.
Forced Labour Orders Since The Ban  [Orders report]	Feb 8th, 2002
A Compendium of SPDC Order Documents Demanding Forced Labour Since November 2000. Below are the direct translations of 453 order documents and letters received by village leaders in Karen State and Pegu Division of Burma. All but a few of them are demands for forced labour issued by State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military units and local authorities, while the remaining few are letters and notes written by village heads about the forced labour they have been ordered to provide. All of these orders and letters were written and issued after November 1st 2000, which is the date when SPDC Secretary-1 Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt signed an order prohibiting the further use of forced labour by military and civilian authorities.
Dooplaya District: Consolidation of control in central Dooplaya  [Field report]	Jan 31st, 2002
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is making moves to solidify its control over Dooplaya District which it occupied following an offensive in 1997. Villages which were forcibly relocated in late 1999 have now been allowed to return home and the SPDC now feels that the area is pacified enough that it is setting up new administrative structures to govern the area. The area is officially under the administration of Kya In Seik Gyi township of Karen State, although until 1997 the Karen National Union (KNU) held most of the area east of Kya In Seik Gyi town to the Thai border (see Map 1 of Dooplaya District).
Toungoo District  [Field report]	Jan 30th, 2002
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) seemed content in 2001 to consolidate its hold over the parts of Toungoo District which it already controls. There was little change in relative control of territory between the SPDC and the Karen National Union (KNU). The ten to fifteen SPDC battalions currently based in the district spend much of their time demanding forced labour, extracting money from the villagers and mounting routine sweeps of the surrounding countryside to flush out the villagers hiding in the mountains. This is in direct contrast to the ongoing offensives by the SPDC taking place in Nyaunglebin, Papun and Thaton Districts to the south. [To locate the places referred to in this report, see Map 1 of Toungoo District and Map 2 of Karen Districts.]
A Strategy of Subjugation: The Situation in Ler Mu Lah Township, Tenasserim Division  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Playing Games with Political Prisoners; Talks in Rangoon; Forced Labour and the ILO; Look at the people, not the politicians  [KHRG Commentary]	Oct 21st, 2001
As the much-discussed ‘talks’ in Rangoon between the SPDC military junta and the National League for Democracy (NLD) drag into their second year without a single piece of news about their agenda, a single statement, or a single sign of progress, the international community is trying to find more creative ways of pretending that something positive is happening in Burma. The most popular method at the moment is to point to the SPDC’s releases of a few NLD political prisoners. Little notice is taken of the fact that many of them have only been released on completion of their sentences, or were never charged or sentenced at all. But more importantly, is it logical to commend someone for releasing a political prisoner?
Photo Set 2001-A  [Photoset]	Sep 14th, 2001
Over 400 photos from Papun, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo, Thaton, Pa'an and Dooplaya Districts showing many aspects of the situation for villagers over the past year. Contains sections on Forced Labour; Forced Relocations & Restrictions; Attacks on Villages & Village Destruction; Detention & Torture; Shootings & Killings; Flight & Displacement; Landmines; Soldiers; and Children
SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2001-A  [Orders report]	May 18th, 2001
This report presents direct translations of 568 order documents and letters, selected from a total of 735 such documents. They dictate demands for forced labour, money, food and materials, place restrictions on the movements and activities of villagers, and make threats to arrest village elders or destroy the villages of those who fail to obey. Almost all of them were sent from SPDC military units and local SPDC authorities to village elders in Papun, Nyaunglebin, Pa'an, Thaton, Toungoo and Dooplaya Districts, which together cover almost all of Karen State and part of eastern Pegu Division.
Papun and Nyaunglebin Districts, Karen State: Internally displaced villagers cornered by 40 SPDC Battalions; Food shortages, disease, killings and life on the run  [Field report]	Apr 9th, 2001
In the hills of northern Papun District and eastern Nyaunglebin District in northern Karen State (click here to see a map of Karen Districts), the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta began a campaign in 1997 to eliminate resistance activity and gain control by wiping out the small Karen villages which dot the remote hills. Army columns of several hundred troops went from village to village, firing mortar shells into the villages without warning, then shelling the streambeds where they knew villagers would run, and entering the villages to loot and burn all the houses. In 1997/98 close to 200 villages were destroyed this way. The villagers fled into hiding in the hills, while SPDC columns came to hunt them, shoot them on sight and destroy their hidden food supplies and their fields [for details see "Wholesale Destruction" (KHRG, April 1998)]. Since then, many people have remained in hiding in the forests while others have managed to rebuild on the burned ruins of their villages, but they must always flee whenever SPDC troops come near.
Abuse Under Orders: The SPDC and DKBA Armies through the Eyes of their Soldiers  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
The Talks that Everyone is Talking About; Forced and Convict Labour; A Crumbling Army  [KHRG Commentary]	Mar 23rd, 2001
It seems the whole world is now talking about the ongoing talks between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD). A European Union delegation says it’s the most significant development in over a decade, the newly-appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Burma lauds all the ‘progress’ being made, articles are written everywhere speculating on what is being discussed, while some journalists jump the gun and simply make up stories about what is being discussed. Unanimously, they all proclaim that 'national reconciliation' is in the air.
Thaton District: SPDC using violence against villagers to consolidate control  [Field report]	Mar 20th, 2001
In an effort to drive a wedge between the villagers in northeastern Thaton district and the resistance forces of the KNU/KNLA (Karen National Union / Karen National Liberation Army), the SPDC continues to intimidate villagers with violence, threats and military retaliation. Information sent by KHRG field researchers indicates that in Bilin township, east of the Bilin River spanning the border of Mon and Karen States, soldiers are using innocent villagers in a campaign to gain complete control over the villages and defeat KNLA opposition forces. They are capturing and torturing civilians, forcing them to work for the army and committing many kinds of abuses. Interviews by KHRG have documented stories of exploitation and violence in Bilin township, fuelled by ongoing SPDC attempts to gain both military and financial advantage.
Northeastern Pa'an District: Villagers Fleeing Forced Labour Establishing SPDC Army Camps, Building Access Roads and Clearing Landmines  [Field report]	Feb 20th, 2001
Escalating abuses by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in northeastern Pa’an district, Karen State have forced a stream of families over the border into Thailand. In mid-January of this year, at least 13 families from Hlaing Bwe township fled their village and walked a day and a half across the mountains to cross into Thailand. Currently over 70 Karen villagers are gathered near a Thai Karen village and they have told KHRG that many more may soon arrive.
Convict Porters  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
A Village on Fire: The destruction of rural life in southeastern Burma  [Article or paper]	Oct 31st, 2000
This article by Kevin Heppner of KHRG appeared in issue 24.3 of the journal Cultural Survival Quarterly, issued on October 31st 2000. Looking at SPDC policies and strategies of destroying villages and livelihoods as a means of undermining resistance, it discusses how this is destroying the viability of the rural agricultural village as a social, cultural and economic entity. Agricultural villages are Burma's core and lifeblood but they are too vulnerable to military demands, and by destroying their viability the SPDC is destroying the very fabric and future of Burma.
Photo Set 2000-B  [Photoset]	Oct 18th, 2000
Forced labour, landmines, village destruction, internal displacement, the internally displaced at Ler Baw Gher, and forced repatriation of refugees
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Oct 17th, 2000
The world is replete with repressive regimes, but even among the most repressive there are few who would try to claim that "there is no problem" in their country. As virtually everyone in the world knows, you cannot hope to solve a problem until you admit that it exists, yet the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta in Burma endlessly persists in facing every problem with nothing but barefaced denial. They don’t even seem to realise how ridiculous they appear to the outside world when they claim that ‘there is no poverty’ in a country ranked among the world’s ten poorest by the United Nations; that ‘women enjoy perfect equal rights’ in a country where sexual abuse by the Army and trafficking in women and girls are huge problems; that ‘the Burmese race is immune to HIV’ in a country with possibly the worst HIV infection rate in east Asia; and that ‘there is no forced labour’ in a country where villagers flee their villages en masse to escape demands to build roads and haul supplies for the Army.
Peace Villages and Hiding Villages: Roads, Relocations and the Campaign for Control in Toungoo District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SPDC & DKBA Orders To Villages: SET 2000-B  [Orders report]	Oct 12th, 2000
Following are the direct translations of just over 250 order documents and related letters sent from State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), and Karen Peace Army (KPA) military units and local authorities to villages in Pa'an, Dooplaya, Toungoo, Papun, Thaton and Nyaunglebin Districts of Karen State, southeastern Burma.
Photo Set 2000-A  [Photoset]	Jun 1st, 2000
Village destruction and relocation; detention, torture, shootings and killings; forced labour and extortion; internal displacement and refugees; landmines; and SPDC deserters
Papun and Nyaunglebin Districts: Villagers Flee as SPDC Troops Resume Burning and Landmining of Villages  [Field report]	Apr 25th, 2000
Villagers from Dweh Loh township, just southwest of the town of Papun, have begun fleeing the area in large numbers after SPDC troops burned and then landmined at least 9 of their villages in March 2000, at the same time that villagers throughout the region have been fleeing in increasing numbers from increased SPDC militarisation and forced labour.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Apr 6th, 2000
Recent months have seen a great deal of activity internationally related to Burma, with Thailand hardening its stance toward refugees and the Non-Governmental Organisations who help them, the United Nations once again condemning Burma for human rights abuses, the International Labour Organisation deciding to take unprecedented steps to press the SPDC to cease forced labour, officials from many countries meeting in South Korea (despite the SPDC’s anger) to discuss what to do about Burma, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Thai Government seriously discussing the possible forced repatriation of Karen and Karenni refugees, multinational corporations challenging American selective purchasing laws in the U.S. Supreme Court, and several other developments. In the meantime, the international media has been in a scramble over a sideshow, all trying to be the first to get an exclusive interview with Johnny Htoo and Saw Luther, the teenage cheroot-smoking leaders of God’s Army in Tenasserim Division.
Exiled At Home: Continued Forced Relocations and Displacement in Shan State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SPDC & DKBA Orders To Villages: SET 2000-A  [Orders report]	Feb 29th, 2000
Following are the direct translations of close to 300 written orders sent from State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Army units and local authorities to villages in Papun, Toungoo, Dooplaya and Pa'an Districts of Karen State, southeastern Burma.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Dec 21st, 1999
There are now only a few days left in the current millennium, which leads one to think both of the future, of all the hope which it may or may not hold, and of the past, of how much the world has changed in a short thousand years - for that matter, the incredible pace of change just within the past century. From horses to the traffic in Asia’s megacities, from flightless to frequent flyer programs, from the abacus to the computer. Whether these things really reflect progress or not is open to debate (particularly each time your computer crashes), but the fact remains that for many people it is difficult to even imagine living the different pace and style of life of a century ago.
Beyond All Endurance: The Breakup of Karen Villages in Southeastern Pa'an District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Central Karen State: Villagers Fleeing Forced Relocation and Other Abuses Forced Back by Thai Troops  [Field report]	Sep 29th, 1999
Over the past four months, villagers from southeastern Pa'an District in Karen State have been steadily arriving at areas along the Thai border 35-60 km north of the Thai town of Mae Sot. They have risked treacherous travelling conditions during the rainy season to make the journey, camping in makeshift shelters along the way with little food or clothing. Testimonies collected from recent refugees indicate that the SPDC is intensifying its operation from August-December 1999 to clear all villages in the southeastern corner of Pa'an District in order to undermine Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) activities in the region.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Sep 16th, 1999
9-9-99 is now behind us, and it failed to produce the nationwide uprising in Burma which some people had hoped for. This does not mean that ordinary people in Burma are coming to accept the rule of the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta, it only means that the regime has been very successful ingraining people with a pathological fear of doing or saying anything, and in creating economic conditions where people have to focus every ounce of their energy simply on surviving from day to day. In this sense, the systematic creation of intense poverty has worked in the regime’s favour. It could prove to be a double-edged sword, and the SPDC would be foolish to sit back on its successful suppression of the 9-9-99 movement. The emotions brought to the surface during this movement may take time to ferment in ordinary people, but they may still come out into the open on a day with no numerical significance, when no one expects it. Just before September 9th, one Burma-based diplomat was quoted in the media saying, "You can’t plan an uprising". That is true, but you also can’t predict one.
Caught In The Middle: The Suffering of Karen Villagers in Thaton District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Central Karen State: New Refugees Fleeing Forced Relocation, Rape and Use as Human Minesweepers  [Field report]	Aug 27th, 1999
Since mid-August, new flows of refugees have begun arriving at the Thai border from Karen villages in southeastern Pa’an District, central Karen State. Over 100 families, totalling well over 500 people, have arrived thus far and they say that many more will follow. Those who have arrived so far come from the villages of Pah Klu, Taw Oak, Tee Hsah Ra, Kyaw Ko, Tee Wah Thay, Tee Khoh Taw, Tee Wah Klay, B’Naw Kleh Kee and Ker Ghaw, most of which are within 2-3 days’ walk of the border.
Photo Set 99-B  [Photoset]	Aug 18th, 1999
The photos and descriptions below are part of Photo Set 99-B, which shows some aspects of the human rights situation in Karen areas of Burma. This set consists of photos taken and gathered by KHRG since the publication of Photo Set 99-A in March 1999. The list is divided by district, and included below is a summary of the situation in each district followed by the descriptions of the photos from that district. Some details of people and places have been deliberately omitted from the photo descriptions where necessary to protect the villagers.
SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 99-C: Karen and Mon States  [Orders report]	Aug 4th, 1999
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SPDC and DKBA Army units and local authorities to villages in Pa'an and Dooplaya Districts of Karen State and Kyaik Mayaw township of Mon State, southeastern Burma.
Human Rights Trends in Rural Eastern Burma  [Article or paper]	Jun 29th, 1999
These briefing notes were prepared as a short summary of some of the main human rights issues affecting people in rural eastern Burma. They are included here in case they may be useful to those requiring a quick synopsis of some of the ongoing human rights trends.
Field Reports: 6th Brigade Area  [Field report]	May 31st, 1999
This report contains two elements: accounts of SLORC human rights abuses in the Kya In Seik Gyi area, in the southern half of Karen State about 80 km. southeast of Moulmein and 100 km. West of the Thai border; and testimonies of porters who have escaped SLORC’s offensive against Maw Kee in the Karen National Union's Sixth Brigade area, 60-80 km. east of Kya In Seik Gyi near the Thai border.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	May 25th, 1999
The rainy season appears to be beginning early this year, and as the rains begin many people look back and evaluate the past dry season. Though the period since October/November 1998 has not featured a major military offensive, the situation for rural villagers in eastern Burma has continued to deteriorate and there have been some extremely worrying new developments. In general, the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) regime has continued to use increased militarisation, forced relocations and tighter controls on villagers as a means of consolidating its control over remote regions, and as a result more and more villagers are becoming internally displaced each month while life becomes even more desperate for those who are already displaced and hiding in the forests. This dry season the SPDC has also added a new weapon to its arsenal which is now terrorising villagers and driving many of them to flight: the ‘Sa Thon Lon Guerrilla Retaliation’ execution squads.
Continuing Fear and Hunger: Update on the Current Situation in Karenni  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SPDC & Orders To Villages: SET 99-B Thaton and Pa'an Districts  [Orders report]	Apr 19th, 1999
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SPDC and DKBA Army units and local authorities to Karen villages in Thaton and Pa'an Districts of Karen State, southeastern Burma. All of them were issued in the period September 1998 - March 1999.
Karenni (Kayah) State: Continuing Flight of Villagers to Thailand  [Field report]	Apr 14th, 1999
In mid-1996 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma broke a ceasefire with the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) by launching a military offensive aimed at gaining complete control over areas of Karenni (Kayah) State near the border with Thailand. To support this military campaign, at the same time the junta launched a mass forced relocation campaign against rural villagers throughout the state, hoping to undermine the KNPP by removing or wiping out the entire civilian population in rural areas. Since then over 200 villages covering at least half the geographic area of the entire state have been forcibly relocated, burned and destroyed by Burmese Army troops under the command of the SLORC, which was renamed the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) in November 1997.
False Peace: Increasing SPDC Military Repression in Toungoo District of Northern Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Photo Set 99-A  [Photoset]	Mar 1st, 1999
This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 99-A, which shows some aspects of the human rights situation in the Karen areas of Toungoo, Nyaunglebin, Papun, Pa’an and Dooplaya districts throughout 1998 and the beginning of 1999. The list is divided by district, and included below is a summary of the situation in each district followed by the descriptions of the photos from that district. The numbers in these lists correspond to the numbers written on the photographs in the set. Some details of people and places have been deliberately omitted from the photo descriptions where necessary to protect the villagers.
Nyaunglebin District: Internally Displaced People and SPDC Death Squads  [Field report]	Feb 15th, 1999
Nyaunglebin (known in Karen as Kler Lwe Htoo) District is a northern Karen region straddling the border of northern Karen State and Pegu Division. It contains the northern reaches of the Bilin (Bu Loh Kloh) River northwest of Papun, and stretches westward as far as the Sittaung (Sittang) River in the area 60 to 150 kilometres north of Pegu (named Bago by the SPDC). The District has 3 townships: Ler Doh (Kyauk Kyi in Burmese), Hsaw Tee (Shwegyin), and Mone. The eastern two-thirds of the district is covered by forested hills dotted with small Karen villages, and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) operates extensively in this region. The western part of the district is in the plains of the Sittaung river basin; here there are larger villages of mixed Karen and Burman population, and this area is under strong SPDC control. For several years now SLORC/SPDC forces have tried to destroy Karen resistance in the eastern hills, largely by forcing villagers to move and wiping out their ability to produce food.
SPDC Orders To Villages: SET 99-A  [Orders report]	Feb 10th, 1999
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SPDC Army units and local authorities to Karen villages in Pa'an, Toungoo, Dooplaya and Papun Districts of Karen State, southeastern Burma.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Nov 24th, 1998
There is no doubt that life is currently becoming worse for the vast majority of people in Burma, in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, people are plagued by high inflation, rapidly increasing prices for basic commodities such as rice and basic foodstuffs, the tumbling value of the Kyat, wages which are not enough to feed oneself, corruption by all arms of the military and civil service, and the ever-present fear of arbitrary arrest for the slightest act or statement that betrays opposition to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) junta.
DOOPLAYA UNDER THE SPDC: Further Developments in the SPDC Occupation of South-Central Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Continuing Hardships for Villagers in Northern Karen Districts  [Field report]	Nov 15th, 1998
Villagers in the northern districts of Karen State and Karen areas of eastern Pegu Division and northeastern Mon State continue to suffer SPDC operations involving village destruction, forced relocations, uprooting of their crops and forced labour. Areas referred to in this report include Taungoo (Karen name Taw Oo) District, Nyaunglebin (Kler Lwe Htoo) District, Papun (Mudraw) District, and Thaton (Doothatu) District. This information was recently reported by KHRG monitors based in or visiting these areas. The situation in Taungoo District will be reported in detail in an upcoming KHRG report.
Destruction of Villages in Northern Pa'an District  [Field report]	Oct 1st, 1998
An SPDC campaign to destroy Karen villages in northern Pa'an District has already led to the displacement of several thousand villagers, and over 3,000 of these villagers have crossed the border into Thailand. The area they are fleeing is on the eastern slopes of the Dawna Range close to the Thai border, part of Dta Greh township (Dta Greh is called Pain Kyone in Burmese, and the SPDC considers it part of Hlaing Bwe township).
Flight of Dta La Ku Villagers in Dooplaya District  [Field report]	Sep 24th, 1998
Dooplaya District covers much of the southern half of Karen State, from the Myawaddy - Kyone Doh - Pa’an motor road in the north to the Three Pagodas Pass area 160 kilometres (100 miles) further south. In early 1997 the SLORC regime mounted a major military operation and successfully occupied almost all of this area, though the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) is still very active in guerrilla operations. While the SLORC/SPDC has gradually increased its repression to establish control over the area, they have also formed and employed a Karen proxy army called the Karen Peace Army (KPA) under Thu Mu Heh, a former KNLA officer who defected in 1997.
Displacement of Villagers in Southern Pa'an District  [Field report]	Sep 14th, 1998
The region commonly known as Pa'an District forms a large triangular area in central Karen State, bounded in the west and north by the Salween River and the town of Pa'an (capital of Karen State), in the east by the Moei River where it forms the border with Thailand, and in the south by the motor road from Myawaddy (at the Thai border) westward to Kawkareik and Kyone Doh. Pa’an District is also known as the Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA’s) 7th Brigade area. The western parts of Pa'an District and the principal towns have been controlled by the SLORC/SPDC military junta for 10 years or longer, while the eastern strip adjacent to the Thai border has come largely under their control over the past 3 years. The easternmost strip of Pa'an District near the Moei River is separated from the rest of the district by the main ridge of the steep Dawna Mountains.
THE SITUATION AROUND HO MURNG  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Human Rights in Rural Burma  [Article or paper]	Apr 30th, 1998
In November 1997 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma changed its name to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC). However, there was no change in the four key leaders of the junta, and judging by the testimonies of villagers throughout Burma and the continuation of all of the regime’s military operations, there has been no change in policy; in fact, the forced relocations and related abuses occurring in many rural parts of the country have only intensified, making it appear that the SPDC regime is even more ruthless and repressive than the SLORC ever was.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Apr 19th, 1998
In November 1997 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma changed its name to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC). Many theories have been put forward on the reasons for the name change, but regardless of these, the SPDC has proven one thing in its first 6 months of existence: that it is at least as hardline and uncompromising as the SLORC ever was, and that it remains committed to the objectives of crushing all possibility of freedom or dissent, controlling every square inch of the country, and gaining the daily power of life or death over each and every citizen of Burma.
SLORC Orders To Villages: SET 98-A - Pa'an District, Central Karen State  [Orders report]	Mar 1st, 1998
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SLORC Army units to Karen villages in southern Pa’an District of central Karen State, southeastern Burma. Though SLORC (State Law & Order Restoration Council) has now changed its name to SPDC (State Peace & Development Council), these orders were issued shortly before the name change.
Developments in the SLORC/SPDC Occupation of Dooplaya District  [Field report]	Feb 25th, 1998
Dooplaya District of central Karen State, a large region which stretches from the Myawaddy - Kawkareik - Kyone Doh motor road in the north to the Three Pagodas Pass area in the south, was largely controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) until 1995. In that year a major SLORC (State Law & Order Restoration Council) offensive completed SLORC’s control of the Thai border from Myawaddy southward to Wah Lay and captured the northern part of the ‘hump’, a mountainous portion of Dooplaya which projects eastward into Thailand.
Wholesale Destruction: The SLORC/SPDC Campaign to Obliterate All Hill Villages in Papun and Eastern Nyaunglebin Districts  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Forced Labour Briefing Notes  [Article or paper]	Feb 10th, 1998
These notes list some of the main types of forced labour currently experienced by villagers in most of the main rural Karen areas of Burma, including Karen State, Tenasserim Division, parts of Mon State and Pegu Division, and the Irrawaddy Delta. This list does not include all the types of forced labour, it only tries to give an idea of the main types.
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].
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 96-F, Central Karen State  [Orders report]	Dec 10th, 1996
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SLORC Army units to Karen villages in the area south of Kawkareik, in south-central Karen State. They include demands for forced labour on roads and at Army camps, extortion money, food, building materials, and intelligence. Some are simply a summons for village elders to attend 'meetings' - these meetings at army camps are to dictate forced labour and extortion payment demands, and even though the Camp may be 3 to 5 miles away a 60-year old elder is expected to drop everything and walk there.
Porter Stories: Central Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 96-E, Central Karen State  [Orders report]	Jul 31st, 1996
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SLORC Army units to Karen villages in the area south of Kawkareik, in south-central Karen State. Most of them are demands for villages to send forced labourers, while some also demand food and building materials. Some are simply a summons for village elders to attend 'meetings' - these meetings at army camps are to dictate forced labour and extortion payment demands, and even though the Camp may be 3 to 5 miles away a 60-year old elder is expected to drop everything and walk there.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 96-D, Karenni State, 1995  [Orders report]	Jul 29th, 1996
This report contains direct translations of State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) orders sent to villages and town quarters in Karenni (Kayah State) in 1995. Most of them are demands for frontline porters and bullock carts for SLORC troops to use in their offensive against the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP). The KNPP made a ceasefire with SLORC in March 1995 which SLORC broke in June 1995 with fresh attacks against Karenni positions, and these orders to villagers reflect part of the result.
Forced Labour Around Taungoo Town  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Jul 18th, 1996
The State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) junta ruling Burma is now using mass forced relocations of entire geographic regions as a major element of military strategy. While this is not new to SLORC tactics, they have seldom or never done it to such an extent or so systematically before. The large-scale relocations began in Papun District of Karen State in December 1995 and January 1996, when up to 100 Karen villages were ordered to move within a week or be shot.
Field Reports: Taungoo, Thaton & Pa'an Districts  [Field report]	Jul 18th, 1996
This report provides a summary of some of the daily events in villages of Taungoo, Thaton, and Pa'an districts between February and May 1996. It is an update to "Field Reports: Taungoo and Other Districts" (KHRG #96-10, 29/2/96).
Forced Relocations in Karenni  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Shelling Attack on Sho Kloh Refugee Camp  [Field report]	Jun 19th, 1996
At 6:10 p.m. on Thursday June 13, DKBA/SLORC on the Burma side of the Moei River commenced shelling Sho Kloh refugee camp, home to about 10,000 Karen refugees 110 km. north of the Thai town of Mae Sot. The camp is about 1 km. inside Thai territory. Over the space of 20 minutes, the attackers fired 4 to 6 mortar shells, later identified as Chinese 60mm. shells (which are part of SLORC's armoury but not of opposition groups). The shells were aimed at the centre of the camp.
Mass Forced Relocations In Shan and Karenni (Kayah) States  [Field report]	Jun 16th, 1996
SLORC is currently using mass forced relocation campaigns as a method to try to eliminate all civilian support for opposition forces. In December 1995 and January 1996, about 100 Karen villages comprising all the hill villages in eastern Papun District were ordered to move to military sites in order to cut off any civilian support for Karen forces by completely removing the rural civilian population of the whole area. SLORC now seems to have ceased this operation, possibly because the Karen National Union is engaged in ceasefire talks. However, starting in March 1996 it began an even larger forced relocation campaign in central and southern Shan State.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 96-C, Ye-Tavoy Railway, Dooplaya District  [Orders report]	May 27th, 1996
This report contains direct translations of several SLORC orders sent to villages in 1995. Orders #1 thru #15 were issued in the Ye-Tavoy railway area and concern railway labour. The Burmese copies of these orders were provided to KHRG by XXXX. Orders #16 and #17 were issued to Karen villages further north in Dooplaya District.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	May 26th, 1996
Right now the Karen National Union (KNU) is trying to conduct ceasefire negotiations with the SLORC (State Law & Order Restoration Council) military junta ruling Burma. Though the SLORC claims to be making every effort to bring peace to the country, they are still refusing to even discuss any political or human rights issues, and as a result the talks are making no progress. Many observers feel that the SLORC is not yet interested in a ceasefire, but wants to launch major attacks against the KNU first in order to weaken the KNU so it can be forced to accept what amount to surrender terms.
Effects of the Gas Pipeline Project  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
The Situation of Children in Burma  [Article or paper]	May 1st, 1996
This summary is intended for consideration by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. It has been prepared partly in response to the report filed by the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC), Burma’s ruling military junta. It does not contain a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of SLORC’s report, but instead attempts to summarize some of the worst problems facing Burma’s children today and point out some of the most glaring fallacies in the SLORC report. All of the observations and quotations included here are taken from our 4 years of living among and interviewing villagers, refugees and the internally displaced.
KHRG Intervention at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights  [Article or paper]	Apr 14th, 1996
The intervention below was given on behalf of the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) by Kevin Heppner of the Karen Human Rights Group at the April 1996 session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Human Rights in Karen Areas of Burma  [Article or paper]	Apr 8th, 1996
Right now the opposition Karen National Union (KNU) is trying to conduct ceasefire negotiations with the SLORC (State Law & Order Restoration Council) military junta ruling Burma. Though the SLORC claims to be making every effort to bring peace to the country, they are still refusing to even discuss any political or human rights issues, and as a result the talks are making no progress. Many observers feel that the SLORC is not yet interested in a ceasefire, but wants to launch major attacks against the KNU first in order to weaken the KNU so it can be forced to accept what amount to surrender terms.
Abuses in Tee Sah Ra Area  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Notes on Landmine Use: SLORC and KNLA  [Article or paper]	Mar 3rd, 1996
The most common landmine used is the American M-76, of which the Burmese now manufacture their own copies. Almost all of these found used to be American-made, but now more are the Burmese copies. They are the "classic" landmine design, made of heavy-duty metal, cylindrical, about 2" diameter and 4-5" high, with a screw-in top the diameter of a pencil which extends a couple of inches above the body of the mine - this screw-in top is surmounted by a plunger the size of a pencil eraser which is what sets off the mine.
Field Reports: Taungoo and Other Districts  [Field report]	Feb 29th, 1996
This report provides a summary of some of the daily events in Taungoo, Papun, Thaton, Nyaunglebin and Dooplaya districts since September 1995. The information was obtained by KHRG in the form of field reports from human rights monitors and relief workers in Karen districts and from radio messages transmitted by Karen military units in frontline areas.
Photo Set 96-A  [Photoset]	Feb 27th, 1996
This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 96-A, including Ye-Tavoy railway construction, the shelling of Wah Baw village, and ongoing SLORC abuses in Taungoo District and south of Kawkareik.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 96-B, Taungoo District  [Orders report]	Feb 23rd, 1996
Following are the direct translations of SLORC typed and handwritten orders sent to Karen villages in Taungoo District in mid-1995. At that time SLORC was intensifying its "Four Cuts" program in the area, ordering villages to move and burning villages and food supplies in order to cut off all possibility of civilian support for the few Karen resistance forces still remaining in the area.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 96-A, Kya-In & Kawkareik Area  [Orders report]	Feb 20th, 1996
Following are the direct translations of SLORC typed and handwritten orders sent to Karen villages in the Kya In and Kawkareik areas of Karen State. All of these orders were signed by SLORC Army (Tatmadaw) officers or SLORC officials, and most of the orders bear the rubber stamps of the issuing military unit. Many of them were copied and sent to many villages. Photocopies of the original orders (with certain details such as village names blacked out) are available on request.
Papun District: Mass Forced Relocations  [Field report]	Feb 18th, 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. This area is rugged hills dotted with small villages, averaging 10-50 households (population 50-300) per village. Estimates are that 100 or more villages are affected.
SLORC in Kya-In and Kawkareik Townships  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Jan 15th, 1996
Two words which are getting more attention in Burma these days are "national reconciliation". These two words represent something which desperately needs to occur in Burma. They refer to a reconciliation of the different nationalities in the country - in other words, not only a ceasefire but a lasting political solution to the nationwide civil war, a durable political agreement between leaders of all the ethnic groups in Burma, including the Burmans.
SLORC / DKBA Activities: Pa'an District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Update on Karen Refugee Situation  [Field report]	Jan 1st, 1996
Burma has agreed to allow over 70,000 of its citizens who have taken refuge in camps along the border to return home. An agreement was reached at yesterday’s meeting in Myawaddy of the Joint Local Thai-Burmese Border Committee, according to Col. Suvit Maen-muan. At the meeting, Col. Suvit and a team of five officials met the team of Lt. Col. Kyaw Hlaing, and the latter accepted a proposal on the return of over 70,000 refugees. A list has been drawn up of over 9,000 refugees at Sho Klo camp in Tha Song Yang who are to be voluntarily repatriated as soon as Burma is ready, Col. Suvit said.
The Effect of Foreign Investment in Burma  [Article or paper]	Oct 1st, 1995
Everyone has heard the argument that economic sanctions never work, that the best way to encourage dictators to change their policies is to give them lots of money, then ask them to change, then give them even more money if they refuse. Economic sanctions only hurt the poor, the big investors tell us, while investment dollars "trickle down" from the generals and help everyone. Not only is there no evidence anywhere to support this argument, but in the case of Burma foreign investment directly leads to suffering.
Notes on Burma Tourism  [Article or paper]	Oct 1st, 1995
Despite the situation in Burma, a growing number of tour groups are planning tours capitalizing on SLORC’s "Visit Myanmar Year 1996". Some tour companies appear to have picked up on the SLORC’s promotions and are fervently promoting these tours.
Country Report on Human Rights: Burma  [Article or paper]	Oct 1st, 1995
Burma is a country where many nationalities live together. Half of the population is Burman, who live in the central plains and valleys, and the rest are from about 15 main ethnic groups, most of whom live in more hilly regions. Historically, Burma was never a single country until the British annexed it in 1886. After independence in 1948, the Burman leaders started making policies favouring the Burmans and making everyone else into second-class citizens. So one by one the non-Burman peoples went into revolution demanding equal rights. By the 1970s, there were more than 12 ethnic groups fighting against the Burmese government. They had their own governments and controlled alot of the territory outside of central Burma.
The Current Human Rights Situation in Burma  [Article or paper]	Sep 5th, 1995
The Karen Human Rights Group is an independent human rights monitoring and reporting group based in Karen-held areas of Burma. It gathers and reports testimony and information directly from villagers regarding the human rights situation. Our focus is on the southern and eastern regions of Burma, and most of the villagers we deal with are non-Burman, such as Karen and Mon people. However, we also collect firsthand information from Burman and other ethnic groups whenever possible, and have found that a similar climate of systematic and horrendous human rights abuse exists nationwide. This document summarizes some of the current trends in the human rights situation applying throughout Burma.
The Current Human Rights Situation in Burma: Executive Summary  [Article or paper]	Sep 5th, 1995
SLORC is using the release of Aung San Suu Kyi to divert attention away from what is really happening in Burma right now: resumed and intensified offensives against ethnic peoples, further expansion of the army, intensified repression and clampdowns against people nationwide, and the further collapse of the economy. The human rights situation is rapidly worsening, with rapid increases in forced labour as military porters and servants, forced labour on development and infrastructure projects, extortion which is driving villagers further into destitution, land confiscation for military-run farms operated with forced labour, and other abuses connected with these activities such as killings, torture, rape, arbitrary detention, and abuse against children, women, and the elderly.
Myawaddy-Kawkareik Area Update  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Aug 4th, 1995
SLORC continues to show no remorse whatsoever for its continually expanding program of civilian forced labour throughout Burma. Roads, railways, dams, army camps, tourist sites, an international airport, pagodas, schools - virtually everything which is built in rural Burma is now built and maintained with the forced labour of villagers, as well as their money and building materials. Forced labour as porters fuels the SLORC's military campaigns, while forced labour farming land confiscated by the military, digging fishponds, logging and sawing timber for local Battalions fills the pockets of SLORC military officers and SLORC money-laundering front companies such as Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. Even farming one's own land is more and more becoming a form of forced labour, as SLORC continues to increase rice quotas which farmers must hand over for pitiful prices.
Conditions in the Irrawaddy Delta  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Field Reports: Mergui-Tavoy District  [Field report]	Jul 29th, 1995
This report is an amalgamation of some of the interviews and information in several recent reports released in Burmese by the Mergui-Tavoy Information Service, based in Karen-controlled areas of Mergui-Tavoy District in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division. The Mergui-Tavoy Information Service is an agency which operates under the Karen National Union's Mergui-Tavoy administration; however, it gathers its information directly from villagers and officers in the areas concerned, and its reports are accurate and consistent with information gathered through sources not affiliated with the KNU. Therefore, in order to help this information get wider distribution KHRG has translated it and prepared this report.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Jul 22nd, 1995
Everyone in the world who is interested in Burma, and even many people who aren't, are now talking about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. But for most of the 40 million rural villagers in Burma, that is all very far away and there are more immediate and important issues to think about - like survival until next week. In Burman areas villagers are starving under the weight of SLORC demands for extortion money. Shan villagers are under increasingly heavy attack by a huge SLORC military force which is burning their villages and taking them as porters (with the tacit consent of the international community, which seems to consider all men, women and children in Shan State villages to be heroin-trafficking fiends).
SLORC / DKBA Activities: Northern Karen Districts  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-E - Extortion, Threats, & Censorship  [Orders report]	Jul 2nd, 1995
Following are the direct translations of SLORC written orders sent to Karen villages in areas south of Kawkareik (central Karen State) and east of Thanbyuzayat (in southern Karen State). Most of the orders were handwritten, except the anti-KYO orders, which were typed. All of them were signed by SLORC officers, and most are stamped with the rubber stamp of their units.
Life as a Village Head  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Field Reports: Papun & Nyaunglebin Districts  [Field report]	May 25th, 1995
While attacks on Manerplaw, Kawmoora and Karen refugee camps in Thailand have attracted the most attention, SLORC has continued its normal offensives in other areas as well, such as Nyaunglebin District, 200 km. northeast of Rangoon and up to 100 km. west of the Thai border. At the same time it has been carrying on a major offensive throughout Papun District well north of Manerplaw in order to occupy areas previously controlled by the Karen National Union.
Murder of a Refugee by SLORC  [Regional or Thematic report]	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".
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-D - Ye-Tavoy Railway / Gas Pipeline Area  [Orders report]	May 22nd, 1995
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by villages in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division, along the route of the Ye-Tavoy railway line which is currently being built with forced civilian and convict labour, and in the area where the SLORC / Total / Unocal gas pipeline from the Martaban Gulf is to come ashore en route to Thailand.
Photo Set 95-A  [Photoset]	May 12th, 1995
This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 95-A, covering the fall of Manerplaw, porters, new refugees, attacks on Karen refugee camps, the fall of Kawmoora, SLORC abuse of Karen refugees in late 1994, and Chin State.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	May 9th, 1995
SLORC is now directly involved in planning, preparing, coordinating and executing acts of international terrorism. Its role in the attacks on refugee camps in Thailand cannot be denied, despite all its claims that the attacks are only the work of the DKBA ('Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army'). Eyewitnesses have seen SLORC soldiers participating in almost every attack, while letters and orders from SLORC officers have referred to their 'control' over the DKBA. Furthermore, the latest wave of attacks, which employed several hundred men operating on different parts of the border with mortar support from a SLORC-controlled area on the Burma side of the border, simply could not have been planned and coordinated without direct SLORC involvement.
New Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-C - Mon Area: Ye-Tavoy Railway, Other Forced Labour, etc.  [Orders report]	May 2nd, 1995
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by Mon villages in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division, along the route of the Ye-Tavoy railway line which is currently being built with forced civilian and convict labour, and in the area where the SLORC / Total / Unocal gas pipeline from the Martaban Gulf is to come ashore en route to Thailand. All of the orders were signed by SLORC officers or officials, and in most cases were stamped with the military unit or local LORC stamp.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-B - Newly Occupied Areas, Papun District  [Orders report]	May 1st, 1995
Since December 1994, SLORC has been conducting a widespread offensive west of the Salween River to occupy northern Karen State's Papun District [see the related reports "SLORC's Northern Karen Offensive", KHRG #95-10, 29/3/95, and "Porters: SLORC's Salween Offensive", KHRG #95-12, 8/4/95]. In the process, SLORC forces have occupied areas which were previously strongly under the control of the Karen National Union, such as the Kyauk Nyat area not far south of the Kayah State border.
Summary of Types of Forced Portering  [Article or paper]	Apr 11th, 1995
Forced portering has come to be known as one of the worst forms of human rights abuse by the Tatmadaw, or Burma Army. Many people have heard the constant reports of civilians kidnapped, driven to the frontline like cattle under heavy loads of ammunition, forcibly starved and then killed as soon as they can no longer carry. In our reports, villagers and SLORC written orders often refer to "permanent porters", "operations porters", and various kinds of conditions experienced during portering, and it is useful to have an understanding of what all this means.
Porters: SLORC's Salween Offensive  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Feb 5th, 1995
Manerplaw has fallen. The world was caught napping, mainly because it happened faster than anyone could imagine. The main factors were the monk U Thuzana and the ‘Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization’ (DKBO). Apparently the SLORC had been supplying U Thuzana with money and food for some time to set up ‘refuges’ where Buddhist villagers could flee from SLORC abuses, and SLORC suddenly wouldn’t bother them anymore. As a result, the villagers decided U Thuzana had magical powers. Then he began ordering them, other monks and Karen soldiers to rise up against the Karen National Union (KNU). Hundreds of Karen soldiers went to his cause, disgruntled with years of sitting on hilltops to defend Manerplaw with pitifully inadequate supplies by order of KNU leaders who seemed not to care about their needs.
Escaped Porters: Kaw Moo Rah Battle  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Reports from Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Jan 31st, 1995
The following testimonies were given by civilian villagers in Nyaunglebin District (Karen name Kler Lwe Htoo District), northeast of Rangoon and Pegu along the Sittaung River. Names which have been changed to protect people are given in quotation marks. All other names are real. Some details have been omitted from stories to protect people. All numeric dates are written in dd-mm-yy format. Please feel free to use this report in any way which may help the peoples of Burma, but do not forward it to any SLORC representatives.
Field Reports: Thaton District  [Field report]	Jan 25th, 1995
The following testimonies and information have been gathered by our human rights monitors from civilian villagers in the Bilin River area and eastward toward the Salween River, in Thaton District of Karen and northeastern Mon States. Names which have been changed to protect people are given in quotation marks. All other names are real. Some details have been omitted from stories to protect people.
Myawaddy-Kawkareik Area Reports  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 95-A - Ye-Tavoy Railway, other Labour, & Extortion  [Orders report]	Jan 5th, 1995
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by Karen villages, copies of which have been obtained by the Karen Human Rights Group. All of the orders were signed by SLORC officers or officials, and in most cases were stamped with the unit stamp. Photocopies of the order documents themselves may be enclosed with this report, and if not they are available on request. Where necessary, the names of people, villages, and army camps have been blanked out and denoted by ‘xxxx’ to protect the villagers.
Photo Set 94-C  [Photoset]	Oct 1st, 1994
This list provides descriptions of the attached, which are provided to accompany the following existing Karen Human Rights Group reports: "Recent Incidents in Thaton District" (30/9/94) and "Incoming Field Reports" (23/9/94). In this list, these reports are referenced as " Thaton" and Field" respectively.
Recent Incidents in Thaton District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Incoming Field Reports  [Field report]	Sep 23rd, 1994
The following reports have recently been sent in by human rights monitors operating independently inside Karen areas. A few of the incidents were reported in radio messages from Karen frontline military units, and these are noted as such. Note that these field reports are not even close to a complete summary of all the killings and looting being done by SLORC troops - for every field report which is sent in, there are a hundred similar incidents which are not being reported.
Photo Set 94-B  [Photoset]	Sep 16th, 1994
Halockhani, Shan State, Defectors, Klay Muh Kloh
Last Minute Update on the Situation of Refugees at Halockhani  [Regional or Thematic report]	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 Orders to Villages: Set 94-E  [Orders report]	Sep 2nd, 1994
Following are the direct translations of some SLORC written orders sent to villages in the area of the Ye-Tavoy railway line between Mon State and Tenasserim Division, which is currently being constructed entirely by the slave labour of tens of thousands of Mon, Karen, Tavoyan and Burman villagers (see the related report "The Ye-Tavoy Railway", KHRG 13/4/94). These orders are now months old, but copies of them have only recently been obtained by the Karen Human Rights Group. The work has been ongoing since late 1993, and similar orders are still being issued now.
SLORC Victims in Nyaunglebin District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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 Orders to Karen Villages: Set 94-D  [Orders report]	Aug 24th, 1994
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by Karen villages, copies of which have been obtained by the Karen Human Rights Group. All of the orders were signed by SLORC officers or officials, and in most cases were stamped with the unit stamp. Photocopies of the order documents themselves are available on request. Where necessary, the names of people, villages, and army camps have been blanked out and denoted by ‘xxxx’ to protect the villagers.
SLORC in Southern Shan State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Jun 6th, 1994
Just when we think the SLORC already has enough in its inventory of brutality, it amazes us by coming up with even more dirty tricks. Now the regional SLORC commanders have called most of the village heads in Thaton District to a meeting, and informed them that "In the future, for every one of our soldiers who dies we will execute 5 of your villagers." This order appears to have come from Rangoon, and it is a frightening omen of the way SLORC is going. The SLORC's demands for "compensation" from villagers are ever-increasing. Every time they lose a truck to a Karen landmine, they now systematically demand 50,000 Kyat from each of up to 10 or 12 surrounding villages, and 100,000 from the nearest village.
Continuing SLORC Actions in Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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 Orders to Villages  [Orders report]	May 11th, 1994
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by Karen villages, copies of which have been obtained by the Karen Human Rights Group. All of the orders were signed by SLORC officers, and in most cases were stamped with the unit stamp.
Incoming Field Reports  [Field report]	Apr 29th, 1994
The following information has been reported to us from individuals in the field. Please use it to help end the suffering of people in Burma.
Incoming Field Reports  [Field report]	Apr 29th, 1994
The following reports have recently been sent in by human rights monitors operating independently inside Karen areas. A few of the incidents were reported in radio messages from Karen frontline military units, and these are noted as such. Note that these field reports are not even close to a complete summary of all the killings and looting being done by SLORC troops -for every field report which is sent in, there are a hundred similar incidents which are not being reported.
More SLORC Abuses: Thaton & Pa'an Districts  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Apr 16th, 1994
On January 28, 1994 SLORC planes passed over the headquarters area of the New Mon State Party and sprayed a yellow powder which covered everything. The New Mon State Party says this has happened before, but the effects are not clear, no proper analysis has ever been done, and no one is quite sure what the SLORC is spraying. Now in the past 8 months in Karen areas hundreds of people have died of a disease like cholera or shigella, which has broken out in two different areas - only days after SLORC planes flew over the areas and dropped mysterious "radiosonde" electronic weather devices.
The Ye-Tavoy Railway  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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?  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Photo Set 94-A  [Photoset]	Mar 14th, 1994
Evidence of Bacteriological Warfare
"Union Solidarity Development Association": Letters to the BBC  [Regional or Thematic report]	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 Orders to Karen Villages  [Orders report]	Mar 4th, 1994
Following are the direct translations of some typical SLORC written orders received by Karen villages, copies of which have been obtained by the Karen Human Rights Group. All of the orders were signed by SLORC officers, and in most cases were stamped with the unit stamp. Where necessary, the village name has been blanked out to protect the villagers.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Feb 23rd, 1994
There has been a lot of attention given to the Karen National Union's recent statement that they are willing to hold talks with SLORC on their own. Despite the fact that the SLORC continues to refuse the most basic requirements to make these talks a reality, such as a neutral venue with foreign observers, many people worldwide are assuming that the talks will occur regardless, and that the SLORC has suddenly miraculously transformed into a responsible entity that wants peace and development. Many people also assume that with "peace talks" in the works, the SLORC must have stopped its human rights abuses. After all, that's what any sane regime would do.
SLORC Activities in Toungoo District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Jan 3rd, 1994
On December 24, 1993, the officers of SLORC No. 301 Burma Regiment ordered the village headmen of Kyo Waing and No Kaneh villages, in Thaton District, to ensure that security is maintained in their respective village tract areas. They were forced to sign papers guaranteeing that if a single bomb explodes or a shot is fired in the entire village tract, they will pay compensation of 50,000 Kyat to SLORC, and if one truck is damaged by a land mine they will pay 100,000 Kyat. What wasn't written on the paper was that these headmen will also pay with their lives and those of several of their villagers.
Ongoing SLORC Looting in Karen Villages  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Porters: SLORC's Bu Sah Kee Operation  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 14th, 1993
On August 18, 1993, SLORC launched an operation in Toungoo District which was intended to capture Bu Sah Kee, a Karen trading gateway and headquarters of the Karen National Defence Organization's 4th Brigade. The SLORC troops involved were #34, 232, and 233 Light Infantry Battalions (LIB), commanded by Lt. Col. Htin Kyaw Thu. These troops are originally from Western Command (Arakan State), but are now based at Kaw Thay Der, in Toungoo District. For the operation, they were divided into 6 columns of 180 to 200 men each.
Porters: Kyauk Kyi Township, November 1992  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 10th, 1993
The following four men were taken as slave porters by the SLORC and escaped in Kyauk Kyi Township on 18 November 1992. They reported their story to villagers in the area, one of whom wrote it all down.
Recently Received SLORC Orders to Karen Villages  [Orders report]	Jul 14th, 1993
Following are the direct English translations of several SLORC orders which have been sent to Karen Villages over the past few months. Photocopies of the orders themselves are available upon request. When reading the orders, keep in mind that several defenceless villages have already been shelled with mortar fire for failing to comply with orders such as these.
Photo Set 93-E: Kyauk Kyi Township  [Photoset]	Jul 14th, 1993
These descriptions relate to photos from Kyauk Kyi Township. For more information, see the Karen Human Rights Group reports, "Forced Relocation in Kyauk Kyi Township" (10/6/1993).
The SLORC's 1993 Offensive Against Karen Civilians  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 10th, 1993
When Burma’s SLORC junta mounted its biggest ever offensive against the headquarters of Karen and democratic forces in Manerplaw in 1992, it was universally condemned for the swath of destruction and terror its Army cut through the country. This year, the SLORC claims to have ceased all such offensives, and is busily trying to repair its international image. However, it continues to mount smaller offensives, and in SLORC-controlled areas of Karen State, it has unleashed a major military offensive against Karen civilians, a campaign of terror and forced relocation which is now taking place out of sight of the world community.
Photo Set 93-D: Kyauk Kyi Township Relocations  [Photoset]	Jun 15th, 1993
The enclosed photos relate to forced relocation of Karen villagers by SLORC in Kyauk Kyi Township, Nyaunglebin District, Pegu Division. Unless otherwise noted, all these relocations took place in 1993. The photos were taken in April 1993. Further details of some of these relocations can be found in the Karen Human Rights Group report, "Forced Relocation in Kyauk Kyi Township" (10/6/93).
Forced Relocation in Kyauk Kyi Township  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jun 10th, 1993
The following report was given by a Karen refugee from the area south of Kyauk Kyi Town in Kyauk Kyi Township, Nyaunglebin District, Pegu Division.
Living Conditions Around Pa'an Town  [Regional or Thematic report]	May 5th, 1993
The following statement regarding current conditions around Pa'an Town was given by a recently arrived refugee who lived there. Pa'an is the capital of Karen State, and there is no fighting in the immediate area. This man's name has been changed to protect him, although he and his family have no plans to return to Pa'an.
Photo Set 93-C: Evidence of SLORC Murder in Thaton District  [Photoset]	May 1st, 1993
Photo #C1: This photo was taken in Thaton District, Karen State, at the beginning of March 1993. It shows the remains of Pa Boe, a Karen farmer about 30 years old from Mya Lay village. About the end of January 1993 SLORC troops approached Mya Lay village and the villagers all fled. However, Pa Boe was caught and taken as a porter. When the villagers returned and Pa Boe remained missing, the village headman went and found the soldiers to plead for Pa Boe’s freedom, but the soldiers refused, saying only, "No way".
Photo Set 93-C: Dead Porters in the Salween River  [Photoset]	May 1st, 1993
On October 6, 1992, the SLORC launched its Saw Hta offensive, sending 4 Battalions of troops down from Karenni (Kayah) State in the north to attack Saw Hta, a Karen village and trading gateway in northern Karen State on the Salween River. In this area, the Salween forms the border with Thailand. Saw Hta was quickly overrun, but fighting continued for months as the SLORC tried to take the entire area and push further down the Salween, in order to cut off Karen trading routes, open a new front against Manerplaw and possibly to try to capture sites where they have signed agreements to build dams in cooperation with the Thais.
Statements by Internally Displaced People: Karen civilians displaced by SLORC activities in Thaton District  [Regional or Thematic report]	Apr 28th, 1993
The following statements have been transcribed from recorded interviews with internally displaced Karen civilians. The interviews were conducted in the Karen language in March 1993, in villages inside Burma which are temporarily safe from Burmese troops. The villagers are from areas under SLORC control in Thaton District, but recently had to flee due to the unilateral and unprovoked wave of atrocities against civilians which SLORC troops are currently committing in the area.
Photo Set 93-C: The Shelling of Kyaun Sein Village  [Photoset]	Mar 31st, 1993
In mid-February 1993, a mine exploded on a road not far from Kyaun Sein village, in Pa’an Township, Thaton District. Two SLORC military trucks were damaged. SLORC troops immediately went to Kyaun Sein village and demanded 70,000 Kyats compensation, but the villagers couldn’t pay. Two days later later another SLORC convoy came. Without warning, they fired 3 morter shells into Kyaun Sein village, killing one man ( Maung Hla Shwe, age 35) and wounding a 75-year-old woman (Pi Thu Meh) and her 10-year-old granddaughter (Naw Kaw Soe). No Karen soldiers were anywhere near the village at the time.
Photo Set 93-B  [Photoset]	Mar 31st, 1993
This list describes photos sent out to supplement the following reports by the Karen Human Rights Group: 1. SLORC Rape in Thatone District (1/2/93) 2. SLORC's Use of Women Porters (16/2/93) 3. Torture of Karen Women by SLORC (16/3/93) 4. Male Porter Testimonies (17/2/93)
Report from Thaton District  [Regional or Thematic report]	Mar 10th, 1993
The following accounts were given by new refugees from Thaton District, in western central Karen State, where the SLORC has recently escalated its attacks on villagers. The villagers' names have been changed and some details. omitted to protect them. However, all names of villagers, soldiers and places given in their stories are real.
Male Porter Testimonies  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 17th, 1993
The following accounts were given by two men who escaped to Karen territory after 3 months as porters for the SLORC Army ending in January 1993. Their stories prove that the SLORC is still rounding up porters from city streets as well as remote villages, and that Army treatment of civilians has not improved whatsoever since the Manerplaw offensive of early 1992.
SLORC's Use of Woman Porters  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 16th, 1993
The following testimonies were given by women who have recently been forced to carry ammunition and supplies for SLORC troops. These women were enslaved for over a month, and their ages range from 15 to 60. Their stories are typical of those told by the thousands of women regularly used as porters by SLORC troops.
Torture of Karen Women by SLORC  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 16th, 1993
The following three women gave accounts of how they were tortured by SLORC troops who entered their village in the latter half of 1992. They bear scars all over their bodies to prove their story. In particular, the flesh on the back of Naw May Paw's legs has been burned completely off in large patches.
Brief Interviews Regarding Opium: Testimonies of two escaped porters from Shan State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 1st, 1993
The following information was given in independent and informal interviews. The two men are Shan from central Shan State, the region of Burma which produces over half the world's opium and its refined product, heroin. They are villagers who were rounded up by SLORC troops in late 1992 and brought several days by truck under brutal conditions all the way south to southern Karenni (Kayah) State, where they were then used by the SLORC as porters in their Saw Hta offensive in northern Karen State.
SLORC Rape in Thaton District  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 1st, 1993
The following account was given by a Karen refugee who arrived in the Karen Revolutionary Area in late December 1992 with, her husband and children, having left their home village in Thaton District due to increased SLORC activity there. Her name has been changed and the name of her village deliberately omitted in order to protect her relatives.
Photo Set 93-A  [Photoset]	Jan 11th, 1993
This list describes photos sent out to supplement the following reports by the Karen Human Rights Group: 1. Karenni State: Forced Relocation, Concentrations Camps and Slavery (10/8/92) 2. Supplementary Report on Karenni State (15/11/92) 3. Report by an Escaped SLORC Munitions Porter (13/11/92) 4. The Current Situation in Mudraw (Papun) District (13/11/92) 5. Forced Relocation in Thaton District (9/1/93) 6. Porter Testimonies: The SLORC's Saw Hta Offensive (10/1/93) 7. Porter Testimonies: Kawmoora Region (31/12/92)
Porter Testimonies: The SLORC's Saw Hta Offensive  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 10th, 1993
On October 5, 1992, SLORC Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw told the United Nations General Assembly that the SLORC was no longer attacking the ethnic peoples of Burma. On October 6, 1992, the SLORC launched an unprovoked offensive on the northern Karen village and trading post of Saw Hta, on the Salween River near the southern border of Karenni (Kayah) State. As usual in their offensives, the SLORC press-ganged thousands of civilians to carry all their ammunition and supp1ies to the front lines.
Forced Relocation in Thaton District  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 9th, 1993
In an official statement published by The Nation newspaper (Bangkok) on January 4, 1993, the SLORC announced the following about its "Border Areas Development" program: "Primarily, Myanmar's aim is to establish key villages where the infrastructure - roads, power and water supply, housing, etc., will be developed. In so doing, local people from the surrounding less-developed areas will voluntarily move to such key villages where living conditions would be appreciably better. In the initial period, certain basic needs of these villages such as food, clothing and shelter will be provided by the Government. In addition, land development and cultivation of cash crops will be introduced."
The SLORC's New Forced Relocation Campaign: Translations of some SLORC orders received so far  [Orders report]	Jan 8th, 1993
As the SLORC's "National Convention" begins in Rangoon, their Army is actively forcing tens of thousands of Karen civilians into guarded camps throughout Karen State in an effort to exert complete control over the civilian population. In these armed camps, or "key villages" as the SLORC has called them, no food or medicine is provided, yet guards patrol the perimeter. Villagers face the regular threat of beatings, starvation and death by disease.
Porter Testimonies: Kaw Moo Rah (Kawmoora) Region  [Regional or Thematic report]	Dec 31st, 1992
These 4 men escaped to Thailand in mid-December 1992, after being used as porters for 2 months in the SLORC’s ongoing offensive in the Kawmoora area, on the Thai border 150 km south of Manerplaw near the Thai town of Mae Sot. The SLORC offensive in this area has been going on continuously for years. These 4 men provide an idea of its effect on the Karen villagers behind SLORC lines. One of them is only 15 years old, and arrived in Thailand with a head wound after SLORC troops fired a grenade at him.
SLORC Activities in Ler Ba Ko Village  [Regional or Thematic report]	Dec 31st, 1992
Testimony by a Refugee from Central Karenni (Kayah) State and List of Villages Relocated in March 1992
Supplementary Report on Karenni State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 15th, 1992
Further Statements Regarding SLORC Murder, Extortion, Slavery, and Forced Relocation in Karenni (Kayah) State
The Current Situation in Mudraw (Papun) District: The Current SLORC Offensive and Displaced People  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 13th, 1992
The SLORC offensive against the KNLA and civilians in the Tee Moo Khee area has been going on since July, and still continues. The SLORC has used 13 Battalions, totaling approximately 6,500 infantry and artillery troops, in this attack on several remote civilian villages and a small force of Karen troops.
Report by an Escaped SLORC Munitions Porter  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 13th, 1992
Includes details on the conditions in Mandalay Prison. The following account was given through an interview in Burmese with a porter recently escaped from the SLORC’s current offensive in the northern Karen area of Saw Hta. He was serving a criminal sentence in Mandalay Prison when he was taken to Saw Hta as a munitions porter, so his description includes details of his arrest and imprisonment, conditions in Mandalay Prison, and his life as a porter. At the time of the interview he was still suffering from an open gash on the back of his head inflicted by a beating with a G3 rifle butt. On arrival, he also had severe bruises on his back caused by other rifle butt beatings.
The SLORC's Relocation Camp at Bo Ka Hta  [Regional or Thematic report]	Oct 31st, 1992
The following report from Ler Doh Township, Kler Lu Htoo (Nyaunglebin) Province, was given by a Karen Baptist pastor who has witnessed firsthand the conditions at Bo Ka Hta relocation camp:
Incident Reports from Toungoo District  [Regional or Thematic report]	Sep 23rd, 1992
On August 10, 1992, troops of SLORC Light Infantry Battalion No. 349, Lt. Myint Zaw commanding, were between the 2 villages of Kler Mu Ka and Plint Kee in the Toungoo-Than Daung road area. One of the porters they had with them was a 40 year old Muslim man named U Maung Saw, father of U Pa Ya, from Ka Chaw. The troops took U Maung Saw and beat him severely with a large wooden paddle they usually use to stir their rice, continuing to beat him until he was unconscious. Then while he was unconscious, they buried him in a standing position with his head sticking out of the ground and left him there.
The New SLORC Car Road to Twee Pa Wih Kyo  [Regional or Thematic report]	Sep 12th, 1992
Beginning in November 1991, SLORC regiment nos. 10, 317 and 14 built a car road from Bilin to Papun (75 miles) for use in transporting ammunition and supplies to the battle front at Twee Pa Wih Kyo (Sleeping Dog Mountain), where they mounted this year’s main offensive against Manerplaw. The car road passed through villages and rice and sugar cane fields. As it was harvest time, farmers had cut much of their rice, gathered it in sheaves, and laid them in the fields to dry and be collected.
Forced Relocation of Villages in Htan Ta Bin Township, Toungoo District by SLORC  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 16th, 1992
In the last week of April 1992, SLORC troops of 73 Regiment ordered all the following villages in Htan Ta Bin Township, Toungoo District to move to relocation sites. Those forced to move to Htaw Ma Aye had to move their rice to be stored in another place, Nat Ywa, which is 5 miles away from the relocation site. They can go and get their rice by cart in summer, but in rainy season they have to go on foot and carry back their rice.
Karen Farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta: Suffering under the SLORC  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 13th, 1992
On August 5, 1992 two Karen boys from Kyone Pyaw Township, Irrawaddy Division, arrived in the Karen Liberated Area after fleeing their village in the Irrawaddy Delta. They gave the following description of current conditions there for Karen farmers. Their names and the name of their village are withheld to avoid SLORC retaliation against their relatives and fellow villagers.
Karenni State: Forced Relocation, Concentration Camps, and Slavery: Including slavery under the United Nations Development Program  [Regional or Thematic report]	Aug 10th, 1992
In Burma’s Karenni (Kayah) State, two opposition armies are actively engaged in fighting SLORC troops: the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF). Both of these armies derive moral support from the Karenni villagers. The SLORC’s response, as in other parts of the country, has been to direct their attacks as much at these villagers as at the opposition armies.
Palaung Statements  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 3rd, 1992
The following statements were made by ethnic Palaung men, from Palaung land in what is officially northwestern Shan State. They arrived in Manerplaw after being among the 2,000 convicts in Mandalay jail who were taken to be frontline porters at the Naw Hta front of the SLORC's dry season offensive against Manerplaw. They escaped into the care of the Karen National Union.
Statements by Karenni Refugees  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jun 12th, 1992
The following Karenni men and women are now refugees in a camp on the Thai side of the border opposite Karen State. They arrived after a long trek southward from their homes in western Karenni State, fleeing a SLORC ultimatum to all villagers in a large part of the State where the Karenni opposition is strong to leave their villages or die. Their statements describe some of the SLORC army’s activities in civilian villages of western Karenni.
The SLORC's "Leave or Die" Ultimatum to Karenni Villagers  [Orders report]	Jun 12th, 1992
Following are the direct translations of stamped and signed orders posted by the SLORC in villages throughout western Karenni State in late March of this year. The large areas affected are in the "brown" or "black" areas (those not firmly under SLORC control, where the KNPP opposition is active).
Statement by Naw Htoo Paw  [Regional or Thematic report]	Apr 21st, 1992
The following statement regarding forced labour and rape in Kyauk Kyi Township was given to the Karen National Union by Naw Htoo Paw (not her real name) on March 31, 1992, after fleeing her village to the Karen Liberated Area.
Testimony of Porters Escaped from the SLORC Army  [Regional or Thematic report]	Feb 26th, 1992
These men all arrived at a Karen Army camp on February 13, 1992, after each spending over 2 months as porters for # 14 LIB of SLORC’s 66 Division. On arrival, the Karen soldiers noted that they were extremely emaciated and shaking from hunger and terror, both of their immediate past and their immediate future. This was clear when, despite their state of starvation, they were at first afraid to eat the rice given to them.
Incident Reports  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 27th, 1992
Karen Civilian Casualties in the Delta Region Arrests, Looting, and Murder of Civilians by SLORC Troops in Mergui and Tavoy Districts Forced Relocation of Villagers in Mergui District
Testimony of Porters Escaped from SLORC Forces  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 25th, 1992
Following are the accounts of four women who were conscripted as munitions porters by the SLORC army, No. 1 Light Infantry Battalion, on or about December 23, 1991. They served for 22 days, experiencing all manners of suffering and atrocities, before escaping into the hands of the Karen National Union on about January 16, 1992.
Statement of Naw Mya Thaung  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jan 24th, 1992
Recently, a large group of SLORC soldiers came to Htee Pa Nar village. The men had gone, and we women and children were very afraid. So we all crossed the Mae Seit River to the monastery on the west side, and we hid in a large trench the monks have there.
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