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Forced labour in Myanmar (Burma)
Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization to examine the observance by Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)
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Summaries of testimony |
1-50 |
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Ethnicity: |
Chin |
1 |
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Age/sex: |
Born on 20 April 1960, male | |
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Family situation: |
Oldest of a family of four | |
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Education: |
8th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer and subsequently truck driver (transportation of goods) | |
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From: |
Haka, Chin State (lived in Kalaymyo town, Sagaing Division for the 15 years up to his arrest) | |
The witness was arrested in Mung Zwa on 18 April 1994 and accused of possessing and transporting illegal political publications. He was tried (at the court of the Division) and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. He could not have recourse to the counsel of his own choosing, but was assigned a lawyer by the State. After his arrest he was transferred to a military camp, the name of which he did not know. He was subsequently sent to a prison labour camp, from which he managed to escape in October 1997. After his escape, he had to flee Myanmar through Mandalay, Kalaymyo, Tiddim and Champhai. Since then, he has not seen his family, which he presumed was still in Haka. During his imprisonment (1994-97), he had to break stones the construction of roads for two years from March 1995. Working conditions were extremely arduous: little food (one cup of rice), no shelter for sleeping. The workday generally began at around 7 a.m. and finished at around 10 p.m., without any break and often in very high temperatures. He worked with more than 700 prisoners. They were all chained at the waist and feet. The prisoners were regularly subjected to ill-treatment by the guards, who beat and kicked them and hit them with their weapons. The chains and dehydration made most of the prisoners sick. No medical treatment or medicines were given to the prisoners if they fell ill. Only prisoners who could no longer get up were excused from work. The bad conditions in the prison labour camp have resulted in the death of more than 200 prisoners. Several of his friends were beaten by the guards, who constantly boasted of being able to do what they wanted with the prisoners. He himself was beaten without knowing the reason for this physical punishment. The witness insisted that the prisoners were denied all their rights. At the time of his arrest, he was a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and supported Aung San Suu Kyi. Several prisoners were members of the National League for Democracy.
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Ethnicity: |
Chin |
2 |
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Age/sex: |
19, male | |
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Family situation: |
Six (very elderly parents) | |
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Education: |
5th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Family of farmers | |
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From: |
Thantlang town, Chin State | |
The witness came to India on 11 April 1997. His parents told him to leave Myanmar on account of the situation: forced conscription, forced labour and portering for the military. He was in sporadic contact with his family, which has remained in Myanmar; they have confirmed that the situation has not changed and that it was quite intolerable, given the military dictatorship running the country. It was impossible for the members of his family to do their own work. He had to work for the military since the age of 14 (1993). As a general rule, the work assignments were notified in writing, although the military could directly requisition the workers they needed. Portering. He had to perform portering duties for the military on six occasions. The military came directly to the village and ordered the persons present to carry their equipment. They also appropriated everything available, including food, bamboo, medicines, animals. Whenever the military came to a village in this way, the young people generally attempted to take flight but they were pursued into the jungle by the soldiers. To his knowledge, nobody carried out this work voluntarily. Road work. On two occasions, he had to work on the construction of the road between Haka and Thantlang. This road was approximately 60 miles from his village. The whole of his village received orders to send one person per family to work. Each assignment lasted 12 days, with three days of travel to the site and three days for the return. The work site was supervised by soldiers. The day commenced at 6 a.m. and ended at approximately 4 p.m. There was no shelter for sleeping purposes and the workers had to sleep close to the road or in the jungle. The workers had to bring all of their food and ask the women present to prepare it. They were allowed to eat at the end of the work day at about 10 p.m. The workers were often maltreated by the soldiers. Anyone attempting to escape was threatened with execution or incarcerated. He received no pay. It was always possible to bribe the soldiers in order to be exempted. Military camp work. On three occasions in 1993, 1995 and 1997, he had to work for a military camp situated close to his village. Each time, he stayed one day. His 16-year old sister also had to perform guard duty for the military camp as well as digging work.
In his eyes, the most unpleasant memories were associated with the porterage and road construction work. He is a member of the Chin National League for Democracy (CNLD).
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Ethnicity: |
Chin |
3 |
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Age/sex: |
Born on 15 April 1972, male | |
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Family situation: |
Two sisters. Father deceased (former civil servant) | |
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Education: |
7th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Truck driver | |
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From: |
Kalaymyo town, Sagaing Division | |
The witness, together with four other persons, was arrested by the military on 23 January 1994 and accused of having illegally transported drugs requiring a medical prescription. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment by a civil court before which he had an opportunity to present his defence. He lodged an appeal and was released on 21 September 1995. During his detention, he was transferred to various prisons in which he had to perform work in extremely difficult conditions. After his release, the witness had the impression that he was under surveillance by the internal police of Myanmar (CID). He found the situation unbearable and left for Mizoram, arriving in September 1997. He left Myanmar on account of the general situation there. The people have no rights. He has no contact with his family. He does not belong to any political group. He is nevertheless interested in the literature produced by opposition groups. As a matter of course, his entire village, including all of the members of his family, has had to work for the military. The orders issued by the military were passed down by the village head. It was always possible for those with some money to bribe the soldiers. The witness did not personally perform any forced labour. Since 1988, however, his sisters have had to perform certain work on a rotation basis (four weeks) at the Kalaymyo hydro-electric power station, as well as on the Thantlang road. In 1988, his younger sister was 12 years old and the elder 24. He has no information on what kind of work they had to perform. He does, however, know that they were not able to rest and that they were neither fed nor paid.
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Ethnicity: |
Chin |
4 |
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Age/sex: |
Born on 28 February 1968, male | |
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Family situation: |
Mother alive; one of a family of seven children; older brother is a lawyer; the others are farmers | |
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Education: |
4th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Thantlang town, Chin State | |
The witness was arrested on 5 June 1996, after the authorities suspected him of being a member of the Chin National Front (CNF). During the interrogation following his arrest, he was tortured. When he was released, he left Myanmar and went to India, arriving in mid-1996. All the members of his family have left Myanmar for Mizoram, including his lawyer brother, since they had become suspect in the eyes of the authorities following his departure. In general, his family did not have to perform any work for the military authorities since his father was a magistrate. However, exceptionally, on two occasions, he himself had to work for the military. The first time was between 4 and 15 January 1995. He had to participate in the building of the road between Haka and Thantlang. At that time, all his village was required to work on this project, including the members of privileged families such as those of judges. These families, which grouped together some 15 persons, were assigned to work on a specific stretch of the road which they had to finish within a specific period of time. Persons who were not able to finish the work were threatened with losing their jobs or forced to pay a fine (2,000 kyat). The work, which consisted principally of levelling the ground for the road, was arduous. They had to sleep near the road or in the homes of friends. The second time was in November 1995 when he was required to perform porterage work for the military authorities. Along with 13 other persons, he was apprehended by the military authorities when he was in Gu Kya, a small village near Thantlang. He had to go from Gu Kya to Thantlang. He had to walk without rest for a distance of approximately 12 miles.
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Age/sex: |
Born in 1973, male |
5 |
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Family situation: |
Member of a family of seven children; parents still alive | |
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Education: |
6th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Soldier since 1993 | |
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From: |
Falam town, Chin State | |
The witness joined the army in 1993 at the end of his school apprenticeship since he had no other way of earning his living. The headquarters of his battalion was in Kachin State. He was the only person of Chin origin in his company. However, there were 16 soldiers of Chin origin in his battalion. His superiors were Burmese from Mandalay (in the company) or Yangon (in the battalion). He left the army because of the poor conditions: low pay, very poor food, very low morale among the troops. With regard to forced labour, he remembered that when he was still very young, his entire village always had to work for the military authorities who had a camp nearby. The call up for labour came from the military authorities but was transmitted by the village head. He himself had to cut wood and perform sentry duty. He carried out this work on a rotational basis with his brother. He did not want to do this work and was not paid for it. When he first joined the army he worked for one month as a guard in the prison camp at Namati, Kachin State. He had to supervise prisoners assigned to stone breaking for road construction. The working conditions were extremely arduous. The prisoners were regularly subject to severe physical ill-treatment. The prisoners were soldiers or civilians who had previously been sentenced by military courts (court martials) or civil courts (criminal proceedings). Their ages varied and they included children and the elderly. To the best of his knowledge, there were no political prisoners. He was subsequently sent to the front line on two occasions. The front line was mainly in the north of Shan State. Almost 4,000 soldiers were at the front line. The porters who were required by the military authorities were recruited from each village. His company, which was made up of between 30 and 40 men, had the services of between 17 and 18 porters. Men, women and children (8-9 years old) could be requisitioned to carry out this work. Several women worked as porters, since the men managed to escape leaving them as the only source of available labour. When fighting broke out, the porters were sent out ahead of the troops to detect any anti-personnel mines planted by the Shan rebels. Several porters were killed in these circumstances. The persons requisitioned were subjected to cruel treatment. If they did not walk fast enough, they were pushed and jostled. They had to porter from one village to another (rotation by village). He had himself beaten porters in accordance with orders received from his superiors. He had not seen any cases of sexual abuse but had heard of them. Complaints had been made, but no serious measures taken. When he was not at the front line, he was assigned to various military camps or remained at the headquarters of his battalion, where he could go about his own business. In the military camps, he had seen persons forced to work on the building of these camps. His experience covered four camps: (1) Namati, Kachin State -- prisoners' camp (already discussed above); (2) Nan Ya, Kachin State. The camp was already built when he was assigned there; (3) Paunghsai and Mong Ko, Shan State. In these camps, people (civilian and military) had to participate in their construction. The villagers were informed by the village head of the work to be carried out. The orders were given orally in the case of villages near the camp and in writing for the more distant villages. The work lasted for two or three weeks. It consisted of constructing the buildings, cutting wood and carrying out sentry duty. Working conditions were extremely arduous. The workers had no food and had to work without a break. They were regularly subjected to maltreatment, kicked and beaten. Even as a soldier he had sometimes had to work without being paid. Between 1994 and 1996, he worked without pay on four stretches of the railway between Mogaung and Mandalay, all in Kachin State: (1) Nan Ya (where he worked for three months); (2) Mogaung (where he worked for two months); (3) Myitkyina (capital of Kachin State) (where he worked for one-and-a-half months); (4) Sarhmaw (where he worked for three months). Between 250 and 300 unpaid soldiers worked with him, in addition to the prisoners. As far as he knew, there were no civilians. His worst memory was the situation at the front line, which was a drug trafficking area. Finally, the witness spoke of the cultivation of opium in Shan State and the fact that the army had ordered the population of this State to grow it. The drug was subsequently sold to Chinese interests. The witness came to India in 1996.
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Ethnicity: |
Rakhine |
6 |
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Age/sex: |
Born in 1951, male | |
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Family situation: |
Eight | |
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Occupation: |
Hill cultivation of tobacco | |
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From: |
Sai Pai Pra, Paletwa township,(1) Arakan Yomav (village had 60 houses) | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1994 because of the conditions prevailing there, in particular the work which had to be done for the military. His whole family came with him to India. With regard to forced labour, he had to work as a porter for the military and work on the building of a road. Portering. He had to do portering for the army so often that he could not remember how many times. All his assignments were carried out in the Rakhine State. The first time was in 1982. He was taken by the army to Pi Chaung (on the border with Bangladesh). Sixty other villagers were with him. There were thirty soldiers. The portering lasted seven days. The porters also had to build the camps where the troops were stationed. The work consisted mainly of putting up bamboo spikes, digging trenches, fetching water, etc. The work was not voluntary and was not paid. Everybody of an age to do portering work was liable to be requisitioned. Where there were no men, women had to do it. Only the adults in his family did this work. The porters were cruelly treated by the soldiers. There was no food and the soldiers amused themselves by telling them to eat sand. If the porters fell behind, they were beaten (in particular, those suffering from polio). He suffered fever and hunger. On his other experiences of portering, he estimated that he was requisitioned for work by the army at least three times a month until he left. The assignments lasted between one and seven days. Each family had to provide one person to perform this work. In addition, four persons from his village had to be permanently available for the urgent needs of the military and for work at the army camp. When he was away, his family had to feed themselves with what they could find from the jungle. In his village, a girl had been sexually assaulted by drunken soldiers, who had offered drink to her father beforehand. Despite the complaint lodged with the superior officer, no serious action had been taken. Finally, his worst memories related to night journeys which he had to make as a porter. He had to make difficult climbs up hills and mountains in total darkness without directions. It was always possible to bribe the soldiers. In his case, he did not have the necessary money and had to perform the work. Road building. In 1992, he had to work twice on the building of the road between Matupi and Chaung Lawa. The work began at 6 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. The first assignment lasted seven days, whereas the second was spread over four days. Each family had to provide one person to carry out this work. The order to work was transmitted by the village head, but did not come from the same soldiers who exacted the portering.
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Ethnicity/religion: |
Rakhine, Buddhist |
7 |
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Age/sex: |
Born in 1966 (31 years old), male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with two children | |
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Education: |
2nd Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Hill cultivation | |
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From: |
Taryn, Paletwa township,(2) Arakan Yoma (village had more than 100 families) | |
The witness had to do work for the military up to his departure in 1995. His wife and children looked after his land while he was away. During these periods, they had to live on what they could find in the jungle. He did portering, and worked on the building of a military camp and a road. He left Myanmar with his wife and children. Portering. He was requisitioned to act as a porter more times than he could remember each year. He estimated that it was three or four times a month. The period when he had to do most portering work was in 1988. The soldiers requisitioned villagers for portering and transmitted their orders through the village head. Each family in the village had to provide one person to perform this work. Each assignment lasted between three and five days. He had to carry food and ammunition for the military. The loads were heavy. He was not given any breaks. He had to bring his own food, but he did not always have time to prepare it. The shelters for sleeping in had to be built on site, in the jungle. He also had to do sentry duty when the soldiers were sleeping. Men, women and children might be requisitioned. The treatment inflicted on them was cruel: beatings with bamboo canes were commonplace. If the porter was incapable of keeping up, he was beaten and abandoned in the jungle. He had heard that some people had died as a result of this maltreatment. It was possible to refuse only in the case of serious illness. However, the soldiers did accept bribes. The members of the army took everything: animals (chickens, pigs), food, etc. He had to work as a porter until his departure for India in 1995. Military camp. The military had a camp in his village. He had therefore had to work there countless times before he left. Among other things, he had to build huts and camp beds for the soldiers, cut and gather bamboo, put up fences and dig trenches. The assignments were of varied length, but could last as long as a month. Road building. In 1991, he had to work on the road twice between Kaladan River and Matupi. The first assignment lasted for seven days, while the second lasted for four. Half the families in the village had to do this work. Other villages were also requisitioned. Two to three hundred persons worked at the same time as him. The workers were subjected to cruel treatment: blows from bamboo canes and punches were frequent. He was personally beaten on two occasions because he could not swim. His worst memories were linked to portering and to the fact that it was very difficult to move about in the rainy season without adequate footwear.
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Ethnicity/religion: |
Rakhine, Buddhist |
8 |
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Age/sex: |
22, male | |
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Family situation: |
Nine (him, parents, one older brother and five older sisters) | |
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Education: |
None | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer (paddy fields, and chillies in winter) | |
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From: |
Thazegone, Minbya township, Rakhine State (village had 90 families) | |
The witness had to work for the military from the age of 14 (1990). The first time he had to work for the army, he was required to grow produce for them. Subsequently, he had to work as a porter, on road-building and he also performed other work for the military. It was impossible to refuse to do the work. He was not paid. Agricultural work. This consisted of tending paddy fields and growing chilli peppers for the military who had appropriated agricultural land one hour's journey from his village. Ten persons from his village had to go. During the rainy season, he had to work on this land until very late into the night. Portering. He first had to work as a porter for the military at the age of 16. Subsequently, he had to do it once or twice a year. He had to carry food. His brother-in-law had been hung from a tree by his hands for one hour because he was absent from a portering assignment for which the military had requisitioned him. He was unable to walk for one to two weeks. Road building. He had to work on the building of three roads since the age of 15: Minbya-Ann (100 miles), Minbya-Myebon (60 miles) and Minbya-Sunye (local road). He had to do this work during the dry season once or twice a year. His whole village was requisitioned to do this work. It was divided into two groups, which worked in a pre-established weekly rota. Each family had to provide one person. Personally, he shared the work with his older brother. It took him two days' walking to get to his place of work. The work was difficult and consisted mainly of digging earth. He had to bring his own tools. Three to four hundred people worked with him on the roads. Soldiers supervised the work. These roads were mainly for the use of the military. He worked on these roads for the last time just before leaving in 1996. The workers were regularly subjected to ill-treatment. If they were late, they were beaten by the soldiers. The soldiers sometimes chained them up and used shackles on their legs. The soldiers would also force them to stay out in the burning sun for three or four hours. In general, the soldiers dealt harshly with the workers. He saw people seriously injured, suffering among other things from deep cuts as a result of being beaten with wooden sticks. He was not injured personally. But he did suffer hunger, fever and pains in the legs. Other work. On several occasions he had to gather wood (nipa palm, bamboo) for the fires needed to make bricks and for roofs (leaves). He also worked on the building of embankments for a river. He had also witnessed villagers having to work without payment on shrimp farms. The army had taken possession of certain shrimp farms. The shrimps were raised for export. Any civilian who tried to take these shrimps for their own use was beaten. In his view, the most difficult work he had to perform, because of his youth, was the cutting of leaves and bamboo. He would like to improve his education.
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Ethnicity/religion: |
Rakhine, Buddhist |
9 |
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Age/sex: |
25, male | |
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Family situation: |
Parents alive, but elderly; he has two older brothers and two older sisters | |
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Education: |
4th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Hill cultivation; family paddy farm (surface area: two sacks of rice seed) | |
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From: |
Kyaukke, Paletwa township, Arakan Yoma(3) | |
The witness had to leave Myanmar (in 1995) because he was afraid of portering and did not have the strength required to do the work. He and his brother had to do work for the military. However, his sisters had not done any. He had to do portering and had to work for a military camp. Portering. He had to do portering for the military three times a year since the age of 14 (1986). He had to transport food and go from one village to another. The assignment generally lasted one day. The porters were not fed, and if they did not bring their own rice, they had to try to satisfy their hunger with what they could find in the jungle. He was injured in the leg during one assignment and was unable to do portering for three years. The soldiers then asked him to put up fencing for the military camp (see below: Military camp). His brother, who was now 20, also had to do portering for the military on countless occasions. He estimated that his brother had to act as a porter for the military on average three times a month. They both began working as porters at about the same time. He said his brother had been maltreated by the soldiers. Military camp. He had to work for the military camp three times. He mainly had to put up fencing, dig trenches and build huts. His brother also had to work on the construction of military huts, on average three times a month. The work was carried out for the same camp. Generally, the work consisted of putting up fencing, digging trenches and building huts. Apart from these kinds of work, four persons from his village had to be kept on call for the army's urgent needs. Finally, his family, which had animals (chickens, pigs), was forced to keep them for the military, who took them from time to time without payment.
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Ethnicity: |
Rakhine |
10 |
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Age/sex: |
Born in 1951 (46), male | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Ra Pauk Chaung, Ponnagyun township, Rakhine State (there was a military camp close to his village at Ponnagyun) | |
The witness had to perform work for the military from the age of 14 (1964). Portering. On one occasion he had to transport goods for the army (rice and other rations) from one village to another. Road building. This began in 1995, with each village being assigned a section of the road to build. The road in question was that between Sittway (Akyab) and Kyauktaw, some 100 miles in length. This road was built during the dry season, but was damaged each rainy season. It was still impossible to use it today as it has never been completed. The military specified the work that had to be done to the Township Council. At that time, he was the clerk to the Township Council. As such, he had to supervise the work and take part in it personally. However, he lost his job in 1988. The workers had to bring their tools. They were not paid. They also had to bring their own food. When they could not go to work, particularly for reasons of illness, they were obliged to find a replacement. Verbal abuse from the soldiers was commonplace. Military camp. He worked there for a year. Other members of his family (elder brother, brother-in-law) worked for a long period once a year. The villages were grouped into tens, with each village having to work at the camp on a particular day. The work consisted of gathering bundles and building embankments. Apart from these different jobs, persons had to remain permanently on call for the army's urgent needs. Student Sports Festival, Sittway (Akyab) (14-17 December 1997). He had to work for two to three months like the rest of his village on the preparation for this festival. His township was particularly affected by this festival since it took place in this area. The work consisted of cutting bamboo and wood and transporting the canes and logs to the festival site. In his view, the SLORC military regime was the most brutal military dictatorship the country has ever known. It was impossible for the citizens to sell their produce freely.
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Ethnicity: |
Chin |
11 |
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Age/sex: |
49, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with seven children | |
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Education: |
Master's degree in physics | |
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Occupation: |
Teacher (of physics) when he was in Myanmar; participated in the opposition movement against the Government | |
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From: |
Matupi town, Chin State (lived in Yangon before leaving Myanmar) | |
The witness was the ex-Chairman of the Delhi Burmese Christian Fellowship, ex-Secretary General of the Chin National Council, Secretary General of the Overseas Chin Theological Association. In 1969, when he was completing his second year of university in Yangon, he took part in the student movement against the military Government. Following his involvement, he was expelled from the university for two years. He subsequently returned to the university to complete his degree (BSc) in 1972. He continued his studies to MSc level. In 1974, he took part in the events related to U Thant's funeral. He was arrested, held in custody and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He was not allowed the counsel of his own choosing and the judicial procedure was summary. Together with a cell-mate, he set up a student organization to combat the military junta, which had as its main platform the overthrow of the junta. He was released on 20 July 1980 and returned to Matupi. He taught there until 1985. He subsequently returned to Yangon in 1985-86. He returned to Matupi in 1986 and was transferred to the school at Sabaungte village. He was later transferred to Matupi again in 1988. In March 1988, his former cell-mate contacted him to tell him that the student movement against the government had re-formed in Yangon. He then went to Yangon. He was one of the leaders who organized the movement for a national strike which was called on 8 August 1988. The situation then became very tense. The military were convinced that the strike movement had been started by senior students. They made death threats against them. At that point, he organized the escape of these students to Thailand. He personally left the country on 11 November 1988 with two other people. One of these returned to Myanmar and was probably now in prison; the other was in India. After leaving Myanmar, he went to Mizoram to a refugee camp (no longer in existence) for two months. On 2 February 1989, he arrived at Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram. There he founded the Chin National Front on 25 March 1989. Between March 1989 and 1992, he worked underground in the jungle along the Bangladesh-India-Myanmar border. Finally, he settled in Delhi in 1992 for health reasons. With more specific regard to forced labour, he personally performed forced labour in Matupi on several occasions in 1982 and 1984 when he was a teacher. In 1982, the inhabitants of the village were forced on several occasions during the year to work on the building of a road between Matupi and Paletwa. He personally had to pay 2,500 kyat to employ the services of a substitute (on several occasions). The Chief of the People's Council, U Thang Gwo, supervised the work. In 1984 he worked on the building of a road to the hydro-electric power-station two miles outside his village. He also worked on two occasions between 1982 and 1985 on the extension of the Matupi road. His sisters also worked on this. When he was teaching at the Sabaungte school, he had to take part in road-building for a week. He had to sleep in the jungle. It was the township authorities which ordered the work to be done. He could not refuse. All this time, he saw the inhabitants of the villages where he was living being forced to work for the military. He did not see any change after 1988 in the way the military resorted to civilian labour to carry out different types of work.
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Ethnicity: |
Chin |
12 |
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Age/sex: |
33 or 34, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married | |
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Education: |
Economics | |
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Occupation: |
Student, Institute of Economic Sciences | |
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From: |
Lungler, Thantlang township, Chin State (lived in Yangon before he left Myanmar on 10 October 1988 | |
(The witness had personal written notes.)
He was the former vice-president of the Chin Student Union. Member of the Chin Human Rights Committee of the Chin National Council. Editor of the Phuntungtu newspaper. He was involved in the student movement from his first year at university in 1984-85. He took part in the student demonstration of 6 September 1987, following the cancellation by the authorities in May of that year of certain bank notes (25 and 75 kyat). The universities remained closed until 26 October 1987. He also took part in the demonstration in March 1988. The universities were closed once again. At that point, he returned to Haka. In June 1988, the universities were reopened. He took part in the student demonstrations. He returned to Haka where he founded the Haka Student Union. He was involved as an organizer in the demonstrations which took place in Haka and Yangon. On 25 October 1988, the Chin Student Movement was created at Falam. He was then at Haka. He went to Falam a little later. He went there once again at the time when the military authorities were demanding that the sign-board of the union be taken down. After meeting with a refusal to do so, the authorities took it down themselves early the next morning. After this, he had to go into hiding. He left the country in his last university year. He feared arrest after five of his friends were arrested at Haka on 5 October 1988. He left Myanmar and went to India on 10 October 1989 to the Champhai refugee camp. He subsequently returned to Myanmar, to the region near the Thai border. On his experience of forced labour. Work for the military had to be performed in all parts of Chin State, but the Haka-Thantlang region was particularly affected because of the student festival to be held there. There was a military camp in his village. Since childhood he has therefore seen people being forced to work for the military, performing various types of work at the camp. He also saw portering. In his village, work for the military was mainly carried out between 1988 and 1995. The 150 families in his village each had to provide one person to perform this work. Road building. (1) Between Haka and Thantlang, the work spread over two weeks. (2) Between Haka and Gangaw, the work began in 1986. He provided photos, taken in 1997, which showed the conditions under which the work on this road is carried out (document M10). He said they were sent to him by a college teacher. The notes beside the photos were written by him, following indications provided by the teacher who took them. He did not personally carry out work for the military because he was not in his village. University students were not generally requisitioned for this kind of work. However, college students and public officials could be. He said his cousin performed work for the military. This relative also left Myanmar for Mizoram in order to escape forced labour. Women must also perform work for the military. The work was not paid. He submitted various documents (documents M10 to M18). Several of these related to Mizoram.
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Age/sex: |
63, male |
13 |
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Family situation: |
Married for 26 years with seven children | |
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Occupation: |
Minister of Social Welfare, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (in exile). (Elected MP in 1990, former Minister of Labour of NCGUB.) | |
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From: |
Sittway (Akyab) town, Rakhine State | |
In 1993-94, in preparation for the Students' Sport Festival in Sittway (Akyab), a lot of forced labour was imposed on the general population. For building a playing field, the 31 wards in Sittway township and 26 other townships had to take turns over six months for one day per week from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., bringing their own food. The order had been given by the regional military commander in writing to the Township LORC and passed down to the Ward LORC chairman. No one was paid. Those who did not want to work had to pay 150 kyats to the LORC chairman, even if they were sick. A large signboard had been put up at every intersection stating that those who evaded the work would be arrested. Witness's own 15 year old son, the only child not attending school and free to do the forced labour, was hit with a plastic pipe when he returned late for his work shift from a lunch-time swim. A lot of forced labour was going on building and widening roads. Witness personally saw in Sittway (in December 1993) every day 3,000 to 4,000 people who worked on the road for six to seven months before the Student Sports Festival. His family constantly paid the Ward LORC to hire others to work in their place. Even old women and young girls were beaten if they did not work properly. When sick, they had to bring their own medicine. Large trees by the side of all the roads in the township were felled by prisoners and cut up, and the wood had to be put on trucks to be used as firewood by the army. Each tree had to be carried by four men, women carried only stones. People who did not show up for work were deprived of their identity cards and ration cards. For the Student Sport Festival also, apart from building roads and bridges, all the small huts alongside the road to the festival had to be destroyed, and the big houses renovated with tin roofs and repainted. The owners had to repair the pavement themselves, build a ditch alongside the road (or pay the municipal council to do it) and pay for the brick lining. Boat owners had to transport stones and wood for building a three-mile long road bridge, over 180 miles away, from Kyaukphyu to Sittway. Also, each township had to supply each day for about one-and-a-half months 1,000 eggs, 100 chickens, goats and pigs to a Government storehouse, purportedly for the Student Sport Festival, but the army took half. In Sittway (Akyab) they built simultaneously a Buddha museum and an archeological museum in 1993/94, and in the municipal area everybody had to bring stones, etc. Every Saturday, for either building, 500 people had to carry bricks, stones, concrete and sand. They were unpaid and brought their own food. For the whole of the Rakhine State, roads and bridges were built with forced labour, witness saw this himself in Kyaukphyu, Rathedaung and other places. In Rathedaung township in 1993 - 1994 all people had to build army barracks for 13 to 14 months. Every day 300 to 500 people. The order had been given from the military commander to the Township LORC, to the Ward LORC. Trees had to be cut down from a hilltop and the ground levelled. Then each family had to give 100 bamboo poles, each house five wooden posts and 100 nipa palm thatch sheets. They had to build the fence, dig toilets for the camp. For the soldiers' families to get food, the village people had to plant a vegetable garden and build a fence around it. Farmers had to prepare a rice field, plant the paddy, harvest, winnow, and bring the rice to a warehouse they even had to build themselves for the army. Men and women of all ages had to work. When a bit slow, the soldiers would beat them. He witnessed it. In the rice fields, women planted the rice, men ploughed. Young women also had to carry water uphill to the commander's house and wash his clothes.
As regards discrimination against families of politicians, when seven members of parliament in exile (including witness himself) signed a petition for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, his eldest daughter and her husband lost their jobs as 2nd in charge and Township Manager of Government Fisheries, and his son's licence for running a ferry, for which he had paid 720,000 kyat (per year) was cancelled, the money gone. His wife and son were arrested for a few days, and his family was now under house arrest: his wife and son had to report twice daily to the police and report all their movements with reason, date and duration to the Township LORC.
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Ethnicity: |
Rakhine |
14 |
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Age/sex: |
24, male | |
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Family situation: |
Single | |
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Occupation: |
TV electrician | |
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From: |
Mrauk-U town, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1993. He had not personally performed work for the military. He was a student. He had, however, witnessed several incidents. Road building. He saw villagers working on the roads when he was going to the market at Kyauktaw. The work consisted of digging out embankments for the road. The ditch dug had sloping sides, so that the width of the ditch was around four feet at the bottom and around eight feet at road level. It was around four-and-a-half feet deep. One person from each group of ten houses had to work on this road. Each village taking part in the construction had around 200 to 300 houses. Each house had to provide one person. No member of his close family had worked on this road, but more distant relatives had, however, been called up for work. Men, women and children were called on to work. If the man was absent for whatever reason, he had to be replaced so that the one-person-per-house rule was kept to. For some villages, the work was carried out nearby, but for others it could be a day's walk away. In the case of the former, workers could go home; in the latter, they had to build shelters to sleep in. The workers had to bring their own food. Road-building work was done in the cold season, which was also the period of the rice harvest. It was impossible to refuse (for fear of reprisals by the armed soldiers). It was nevertheless possible for those with money to bribe the soldiers or pay a substitute. But even if the army was given money, there was no guarantee that those who paid would never be requisitioned since the money was generally kept by the soldier to whom it was given. The military were everywhere. The work was ordered by the regional command for the Rakhine State. The order was transmitted to the central command of the township. The village heads were then contacted to organize the work. The army supervised and ensured discipline. The soldiers checked everyone. In addition to the building work which they had to perform, they had also to meet all the needs of the military: food, water, etc. He did not witness any violent treatment, however, the soldiers used abusive language when they addressed the workers. The roads were poorly built. They were often built on rice-paddies and cattle tracks. They were therefore always in a damaged state. To his knowledge, it had never been possible to use them. Military camp work. The military camp of Taung Taung U was near Kyauktaw. The work was carried out in 1992/93. He was told that the persons working on the roads also had to go to the camp to carry out various types of work. Generally, the villagers had to keep animals for the use of the army, which appropriated them when patrols were made. The older men had to cut bamboo stems to make ropes from them for army use. The older women had to go and fetch water for the camp, which was located on a mountain top and had no water supply. Canal work. The canal was between the rivers Tu Myauk (a tributary of Kaladan river) and Yo Shaung. The work was carried out in 1992/93. The Yo Shaung had to be widened. The canal was 15 feet deep and 40 feet wide. Each village had a portion to dig. The work was done in ten days. It was possible to do it quickly because of the large number of villages which took part. He remembered the names of 17 villages which had been called upon: Bo Me Yo, Barawa Yo, Kwa Sone, Palaung Shaung, Aung Zaya, Bone Za, Kin Swin Shaung, Kauk Kyaik, Pale Shaung, Ouk Ta Bra, Na Prauk Se, Ohn Pati, Tin Braun, Wa Tawn, Kan Sauk, Ma Rwet Taung, Tu Myauk. There were others. The first village had around 300 families.
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Ethnicity: |
Rakhine |
15 |
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Age/sex: |
34, male | |
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Family situation: |
Single | |
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Occupation: |
Representative of the committee of the Mizoram refugee camp | |
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From: |
Sittway (Akyab) town, Rakhine State | |
The witness recounted two recent events related to portering which had occurred in the Rakhine State. (1) On 16 November 1996, Shwe Thin, commander of Battalion No. 376, went to Kyak Ku Zu, Kyauktaw township with two other soldiers. It was around 4 p.m. He wanted to recruit porters. The village has 150 houses and each had to provide one porter. Shwe Thin organized a meeting to this end and set a time by which the necessary porters were to be recruited, threatening to exterminate the village's inhabitants if the order was not carried out in the time laid down. He came back an hour later and began shooting. Five persons were killed immediately. U Sein Hla Maung, village head, aged 45; U Tha Sin, group leader, aged 38; U Sein Thwin Aung, group leader, aged 42; U Twee Sein Aung, group leader, aged 50; Maung Nge, son of U Sein Hla Maung, aged seven. Ten other people were injured. Shwe Thin continued, entered a residence and killed its rich owner and those present: U Way Phu Aung, a rich man, aged 60; Daw Sein Ma She, his wife, aged 58; Ko Thein Twin Aung, their son-in-law, aged 37; Maung Than Htay, son of U Way Phu Aung, aged ten; U Thein Twin, aged 38; Maung Lay Win, a tradesman, aged 38; and U Tha Htway Phyu, a visitor from another village, aged 45. The daughter of U Way Phu Aung was injured, together with her two-year-old son and ten other persons. Some have died since. In the end, no porters were recruited. He knew the person who told him this story well. (2) In the second week of December 1996 around 8.30 p.m. at Sittway (Akyab), a high-ranking military man ordered a bicycle-rickshaw driver to take him to a distant place (seven miles away). The driver refused and was killed there and then. His wife was pregnant. He knew the person well who told him this story.
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Ethnicity/religion: |
Rakhine, Buddhist |
16 |
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Age/sex: |
32, male | |
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Occupation: |
Buddhist monk | |
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From: |
Kyaukphyu town, Rakhine State | |
The witness was an official in the Indian section of the All Burma Monks Union/Arakan, an organization founded in Bangladesh in 1992, the Indian section of which was created in Delhi in May 1995. He related some events, of which he had personal knowledge, which related to forced labour. (1) In October 1991, in the village of Ngaloun Kyone, in the south of Kyaukphyu district, the inhabitants had to provide wood for the military (Battalion 34). Each house had to provide 200 18-inch pieces of wood. He personally saw inhabitants cutting the wood. They had to go into the forest. The work lasted a month. The workers were not paid. It was always possible to pay bribes (baskets of rice, tobacco, leaves, fermented fish paste, dried chillies, fish). The wood was used for building military huts near the border with Bangladesh. (2) In the village of Ngaloun Su, a 43-year-old man was ill. He asked a soldier if he could be exempted from the work (woodcutting). The soldier refused and ordered him to perform the work. The man refused and was beaten so badly by the soldier with a metal stick that his hip was broken. His screams produced a gathering of people. One person who said that the injured man should be sent to hospital was also hit. In the end, a doctor came and concluded that the man was in need of serious treatment. The soldier told him to attend to him. (3) In the village of Go Du, 1991, a soldier forced an old woman of 71 to go and gather wood in the jungle. She told him she was too old. The soldier insisted on having wood. The woman obeyed the order and died carrying it out. (4) In the village of Wa Bone Kyi, he twice saw villagers cutting wood for the purpose of building military huts. The first time, the villagers each had to provide 200 pieces of wood, while the second time the quota set was 700. A villager had told him that the village was unlucky because these inhabitants were always having to work for the army. (5) At Sittway (Akyab), during the first week of April a soldier was standing with a metal ring (four inches in diameter) near a jetty in the middle of the town. There were also pieces of wood of different sizes. Only the pieces of wood which had precisely the dimensions of the ring were kept. Those which were either too large or too small in diameter were rejected. These were the pieces of wood obtained from the forced labour mentioned above (see point 4). (6) In 1986, Kyaukphyu. Prison labour. Prisoners were in chains, as the authorities feared they might escape. The witness regarded this as cruel treatment even if it applied to prisoners. These prisoners were assigned to cutting wood. (7) In Mandalay in 1988 a road was to be built. A line was marked out to indicate the places through which the road should pass. All the house fronts which encroached over the line had to be "cut back" by the house owners without compensation.
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Ethnicity: |
Burman |
17 |
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Age/sex: |
36, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married | |
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Occupation: |
President of the All Burma Student League | |
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From: |
Yangon | |
The witness was the president of the All Burma Student League. He had held numerous interviews with the villagers of upper Myanmar. He recounted three events connected with forced labour. (1) The building of the Pakokku-Kalaymyo-Htoma road in Magway and Sagaing Divisions. The work was unpaid. This was the first case he dealt with last year. (2) In December 1997, the construction using forced labour of a new airport in the village (now a town) of Htoma, near Kalaymyo. (3) Infrastructure that the authorities were building near to the Indian border on the Myanmar side, in particular, a road between Tamu and Kalaymyo. The workers were forced to work on this.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
18 |
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Age/sex: |
48, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with six daughters and two sons | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer with 16 khani (6 acres) of land | |
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From: |
Chit Chapandaw, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State(village had 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, it was situated close to a NaSaKa camp; population mainly Rohingyas) | |
The witness left Myanmar because (1) the Government had seized his land; and (2) he had been subjected to forced labour. He left Myanmar in early January 1998. It had become increasingly difficult for a Rohingya to travel freely in Myanmar (he could not, for example, go to Yangon). So far as the expropriation of his land was concerned, the NaSaKa seized his land five years ago to distribute it to the other inhabitants who were Rakhines. He said he received no compensation. Having been deprived of his land, he was taken on as a day labourer in the same village.
With regard to forced labour, his village was close to a NaSaKa camp. Orders to carry out work were given orally. They came from members of the NaSaKa who transmitted them through the village head. They informed the village head of their needs and he had to assemble the necessary labour. All the Rohingya men had to perform work for the NaSaKa. He did not see Rakhines doing this type of work. Three years ago (when he was 45), he had to (i) transport wood for construction; (ii) help with agricultural work; and (iii) work as a porter. Transporting wood. He had to do this more times than he could count. It was difficult to say how many times: when members of the NaSaKa needed him, they called for him. All men (women were not requisitioned for forced labour) had to do this work. Two men were required to transport wood. The total number of workers depended on the needs of the NaSaKa, but could be as many as 200. A whole day was needed for a single tree (it took three hours to cut down a tree). The forest was quite a long way from his village. It was always possible to give bribes to be exempted. Agricultural work. He had to help more times than he could count in growing rice on land held by Rakhines. This work was required in the two annual growing seasons and had to be performed three days a week during harvests, which lasted for two months. He was not paid. He was not given food. He had to bring his rice. The same persons were required to do this work as for the transporting of wood. There were no children. Portering. He had also worked as a porter for the NaSaKa and had to take food from one place to another more times than he could remember. He began at the age of 43 (five years ago) at a distance of three to six kilometres from his home. The assignments generally lasted a day. The same persons were required to do this work as for transporting wood. Lastly, he had to stand guard for the NaSaKa to intercept persons coming from the sea. He had to do sentry duty 12 nights a month. The same persons were required to do this work as for transporting wood. Treatment. He was threatened badly by members of the NaSaKa. He was beaten at least 25 times and had his hair cut off for falling asleep on the job. Two people were killed last year in his village by the NaSaKa. His view was that the NaSaKa used people as if they were beasts of burden. Taxes. The NaSaKa informed the village head of the amount of taxes and he had to see to it they were collected. People had ten days to pay. These were monthly taxes. The amount had increased over the years and fluctuated considerably depending on the building work undertaken by the NaSaKa. He had to pay these taxes since childhood. Only the Rohingyas had to pay these taxes. If people did not have enough money, they had to sell their property to pay the taxes.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
19 |
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Age/sex: |
28, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with wife and two children; parents | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Chit Chapandaw, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State(village had 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the beginning of January 1998. When he was requisitioned for work, the order came from the NaSaKa who used the village head as an intermediary. The village head sent a messenger to inform the persons selected of the work they had to carry out. NaSaKa camp. He first had to perform work for a NaSaKa camp at the age of 18. The work involved cutting wood and building the camp. He had to perform carpentry work. On each occasion, the assignment lasted between ten and 15 days. He had been forced to carry out this work every year since then, as the buildings had to be renovated. He also had to repair the fences. He worked at the camp for the last time one-and-a-half months before his departure. Portering. He had to work as a porter from the age of 12. Men and children were requisitioned for this work when the NaSaKa had to transport materiels or munitions from one camp to another. He estimated he worked as a porter on average two or three times a month. Not all the portering work was for the same camps. The duration of the assignment depended on the length of the journey, but was generally for two days to cover between 16 and 20 kilometres. He last did portering work around 25 days ago. Shrimp farming. Since the age of 12, he had to work on a shrimp-farming project belonging to the NaSaKa. He had to work there twice a month each year during the two growing seasons. He had to perform this work every year. Since 1991, he has also had to help the Rakhines during the two annual growing periods. Sentry duty. Lastly, he had to stand guard from time to time. When this occurred, the work lasted 24 hours, uninterrupted. Treatment. The workers were beaten if they did not work according to orders received and at a satisfactory pace. He was beaten five or six times himself, the reason given in each case was for being slow. Taxes. The amount of taxes varied considerably. When an official of the NaSaKa visited the camp, the villagers had to pay. The amount of taxes varied depending on the number of visits.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
20 |
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Age/sex: |
45, female | |
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Family situation: |
Widowed with two sons (one of whom is deceased), four grandchildren and one daughter-in-law | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Kulung, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had 1,300 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the end of December 1997. Her son was first requisitioned for forced labour at the age of 12. He had to perform forced labour until his death at the age of 30. He had to clean camps, build houses, and transport wood and sacks of rice. Her son had to work on average 14 days per month (in rotation). The schedule was not fixed, however, since the men were requisitioned as required by the NaSaKa. The other men in the village were subject to the same treatment. Members of the NaSaKa personally threatened her when she objected to them taking the fruit from a tree which was on her land. She heard that members of the NaSaKa had sexually assaulted women when the families objected to them taking their possessions.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
21 |
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Age/sex: |
50, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with wife, one son, two daughters and one son-in-law | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer (7 khani [2.6 acres] of land) and fisherman | |
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From: |
Chit Chapandaw, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the beginning of January 1998. He was forced to work for the military in Myanmar. Land cultivation. He had to do this for the Rakhines. Rice and peanuts were the crops involved. The growing season spread over three months. He could not do anything else during that period. Also, in the dry season, he had to clear the land and put up fencing. He was not paid. Portering. He had to do this twice a week (by rotation). The rest of the time he could work on his own land. Sentry duty. This was night work. On numerous occasions he witnessed acts of violence by NaSaKa members. There was a torture cell at the NaSaKa camp. The NaSaKa used stocks. These were used as a punishment for the workers who were ill or refused to work. He had personally been used more than once to pull a plough like a buffalo. On one occasion, 100 other people received the same punishment for being slow. The day lasted six hours. Finally, as regards taxes, twenty five per cent of his produce had to be given to the NaSaKa. He received no compensation for this.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
22 |
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Age/sex: |
66, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with three sons and one daughter | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer with 7 khani (2.6 acres) of land | |
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From: |
Mehru, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar at the end of 1997. There was a NaSaKa camp near his village in Rakhine. The camp was built by the men from his village. He said the NaSaKa had requisitioned him for work. His (eldest) son had given him the money to pay for a substitute. Each time, his son had to pay 50 kyat. He lost count of the number of times he had to pay. He estimated that he might have paid this sum on average five to seven times per month. The son had to use his savings or sell his possessions (chickens, chillies) to be able to give his father this money. His son (the eldest one, the others being too young) did work for the NaSaKa, particularly transporting wood from the forest to the camp. His son has had to bring wood to the camp at least ten times a month over the last twenty years. The son was beaten with a stick by NaSaKa members on three occasions because he was slow. He also had to pay taxes on numerous occasions. They had to draw on their savings to pay. If they did not have the money, they had to sell their possessions (livestock, chickens). The amount of the taxes varied. The witness told of his despair. He had no work, no country and no future.
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Ethnicity: |
All Rohingya |
23 to 28 |
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Age/sex: |
65, male (witness 23); 30, male (witness 24), 58, male (witness 25); 35, male (witness 26); female (witness 27); and 24, male (witness 28) | |
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From: |
Various villages in Maungdaw township, Rakhine State | |
(Witnesses 23 to 28 were interviewed together)
The witnesses left Myanmar between one and two months ago. They had to do work for the NaSaKa on several occasions. Some of them had to work on average ten times per month (for instance, growing rice: witness 24). In early January 1998, witness 25 saw his son beaten because he fell asleep while on forced sentry duty for the NaSaKa. His son's leg was broken. he did not receive medical treatment. Witness 23 was used three times to pull a plough like a buffalo, as a punishment.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
29 |
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Age/sex: |
45, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with one son and three daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer with nine khani (3.4 acres) of his own land | |
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From: |
Lamarpara, Rathedaung township, Rakhine State (military camp one km from his village) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the beginning of 1998 because of the forced labour, which prevented him from providing for his family's needs. The order usually came from the military, who passed it through the village head. All males over the age of 12 had to perform forced labour. It was not paid. He generally had to take his own food. He could not refuse. Each family had to provide one man. It was possible to pay a substitute or make bribes. In his case, he did not have the necessary money. He was maltreated on several occasions. He was given no medication or medical treatment. Construction of embankments. He had to do this approximately twice a week, every two months. Some 500 people worked with him. The work was overseen by a Rakhine. It was performed at a Government shrimp farm. He was neither paid nor compensated in any way whatever. He was physically maltreated. He was beaten on at least six occasions with a wooden stick when he took a rest. He did this kind of work four months before his departure. Agriculture. He had to bring his own plough. He had to do this one month a year for six years. A sector was assigned to ten families. The work generally began around 6.30 a.m. and ended at nightfall. He was allowed one hour's rest at lunchtime. He was not paid. He did not receive any rice in compensation. He was subjected to physical ill-treatment. Portering. He had to do portering two months a year for six-and-a-half years. The assignments lasted between one and four days each time. Around 120 other porters were requisitioned to work at the same time. He had to bring his own food. There were no shelters to sleep in. He had to carry goods and munitions for the military from one camp to another. He did not see any armed conflicts. The loads weighed around 40 kg. He was subjected to maltreatment, generally inflicted because he had not understood the orders (language problem). He was beaten at least twenty times (beaten with a stick and kicked). He reported back pains which are presumably the result of these beatings. Woodcutting. He had to cut the wood required for the building of soldiers' housing or to be sent to other districts. He had to do this work one week per month for six-and-a-half years. He could be away for more than a week on this work. He slept in the fields. On each occasion he worked with at least twenty other men. He did not have to pay taxes.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
30 |
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Age/sex: |
30, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with wife, mother, two brothers and four sisters | |
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Occupation: |
Owner of a small grocer's shop | |
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From: |
Nasil Para, Sittway (Akyab) township, Rakhine State (village had 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants; the village was relocated some four years ago with other Rohingya villages. It was originally sited close to a main road. It was moved near to the sea.) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the beginning of 1998. He had to work for the military. He was not paid. No one could look after his business while he was away. All the Rohingyas had to do forced labour. His brothers and father also had to do forced labour. There was no woodcutting or transporting of wood in his area, since there was no forest. All the work was done for the military. He was physically ill-treated. Five days before his departure for Bangladesh, he was beaten because he had been unable to carry the load allotted to him. He suffered from back pains as a result of this beating. It was possible to pay bribes: 1,000 kyat would buy a week's rest. He did not personally have the resources to pay for a substitute. The orders came from the military, but were transmitted through the village head. The soldiers sometimes came directly to people's houses. One kind of forced labour he had to do was carrying stones. He had to do this three months a year for 15 years. Every working day involved ten trips with stones. The last time he had to do this was a fortnight before he left. The tools were provided by the military. The stones were mainly used in road-building. They had to be crushed. The road on which he worked was a seven kilometre road in the district of Sittway (Akyab). He also had to work building bridges. He also worked on the construction of military camps. Each family had to pay 50 kyat if a new military group came to the region. In addition, on one occasion he was taken as a porter to Shan State.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
31 |
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Age/sex: |
45, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with four daughters, four sons and two grandchildren | |
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Occupation: |
Rice farmer with 12 khani (4.5 acres) of land | |
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From: |
Kulung, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had 300 families; several had left the village) | |
The witness arrived in Bangladesh with his family at the beginning of 1998. Orders for labour generally came from the military, but were transmitted through the village head. If the village head did not provide the necessary labour, the military came directly to the houses. When he was away, no one could tend his land. For that reason, he wanted his sons to do the work for the military. However, the army preferred him to his sons, as they were less strong (being around 15 years old). All the men in his village had to do work for the military. His brother was murdered after having denounced (in rudimentary English) the practices of the NaSaKa to the UNHCR. He was hanged. Building military camps. For six to seven years, he had to work on camp construction for around ten days a month. He had to make the wood and bamboo structures. One hundred and fifty persons were requisitioned for this work on each occasion. He also had to build houses for the Rakhines. He did this work five days before leaving for Bangladesh. He was paid. He was sometimes subjected to maltreatment. A man from his village had been killed five days before his departure for Bangladesh for having refused to do the work demanded of him. The family of the deceased had also left the village. Portering. He did portering for the military on more than a hundred occasions over three years. Between Kulung and Akyorata (24 km). The assignments generally lasted for a day. He had to do it four times a month. Between 100 and 150 persons were requisitioned each time. They all came from his village. He was paid 15 kyat (a negligible sum) by the NaSaKa for each assignment. If he fell behind, he could be beaten. The last time he had to act as a porter was the day before he left for Bangladesh. Clearing grass. He had to do this five times a month for six to seven years. He was not paid. He also had to pay 100 kyat per month to the NaSaKa in taxes.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
32 |
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Age/sex: |
25, male | |
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Family situation: |
Single; two brothers (one deceased) and three sisters (father died in July 1991) | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer (rice paddies and vegetables) -- 16 khani (6 acres) | |
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From: |
Lawadok Pranshi, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had 1,700 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar in the course of January 1998 because he could no longer tolerate the abuses of the authorities. The NaSaKa took his land from him in 1995, leaving his family only the ground on which their house stood. His father was killed by the NaSaKa after contacting UNHCR because one of his sons had not come home after an assignment. Work for military camps. He had to do various different types of work for the battalion 21 camp: clearing the forest and carrying rations between the main road and the camp (one kilometre). He had to do this from 1995 onwards. As he no longer had any land, he worked for the military in the evening and was a day labourer by day. He occasionally received two kilos of rice and one kilo of dal. He had suffered ill-treatment. As the military camp was adjacent to his house, the soldiers came to fetch him directly or used a loudspeaker to call him when he was needed. He has been beaten because the pace of his work was not satisfactory. Some 2,000 people had been requisitioned to build one military camp. Portering for military operations. In April 1991 he worked as a porter for military operations in the hills against opposition forces. He had to carry the baggage. He had to do this on two occasions. Each time, 400 people had worked with him. He was not paid, but he was fed. The porters were frequently ill-treated. He said 50 died on one of these assignments, and 25 on the other. Some porters who could not keep up with the pace of the march were pushed off the hillsides. The soldiers frequently assaulted girls at night. Rape was commonplace over the last two years or so. The girls were rounded up and offered to the soldiers. He personally saw this happening. His own sister had been assaulted less than a month before. He was present. He resisted, but was beaten and forcibly taken to another room.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
33 |
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Age/sex: |
35, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with one daughter and two sons | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer with nine khani (3.4 acres) of paddy fields (this was an area where there is only one rice crop per year). | |
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From: |
Lamarpara, Rathedaung township, Rakhine State (very remote coastal village) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the beginning of January 1998 because he was no longer able to provide for his family. This was his first time in Bangladesh. The Government had seized half his land in 1996 and the rest in 1997, leaving him only one khani. The NaSaKa set up camp in his village in 1996/97. Before that period he had not been subjected to forced labour (very remote village). He worked on embankments for shrimp breeding ponds. He had to do this 15 days a month for seven months. Ninety to 150 people worked alongside him on this. He received two kilos of rice. He could not refuse. He knew men in his village who had been tortured because they had refused to do work. They were kept in a dark room. That episode had occurred about a year ago. He could not pay to be replaced or bribe the soldiers. He last did this work 12 days before he left. With regard to portering, he had to go with the army in April 1997. This was an operation against the RSO. The army deployed the porters in the front line in such a way that the RSO would hit them first if they opened fire. He had to carry equipment, food and munitions. He had to stay 41 days in the deep forest with the military. There were 90 other porters with him. Apparently, no one died that he knows of. He was not paid. To feed himself, he received a daily ration. He was beaten on three occasions with a wooden stick. Taxes. He had to pay taxes to the NaSaKa amounting to 150 to 200 kyat a month. The NaSaKa or the village head came directly to his house to collect the payment.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
34 |
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Age/sex: |
50, female | |
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Family situation: |
Widowed with three daughters and one grandson | |
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Occupation: |
Husband was a small trader (grocer) | |
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From: |
Chin Taung, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar at the end of 1997. Her husband died four years ago. She sold the shop. She worked in her village as a day labourer for neighbours. She had seen people forced to work on road-building (earth moving) and the construction of military camps. Her husband had worked on the construction of a road between her village and Buthidaung four and a half years ago. She last saw forced labour two months before she came to Bangladesh. This was on road repairs and the building of a military camp. In the former case, 50 people were moving earth. A Rakhine was overseeing the work. She saw soldiers physically maltreating villagers. She had to pay taxes amounting to 30 kyat to the military just before leaving. She did not know the reason for this payment. These taxes were collected by the village head.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
35 and 36 |
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Age/sex: |
30, female (witness 35); 45, female (witness 36) | |
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Family situation: |
Witness 35 widowed with one son; witness 36 married with two sons and one daughter | |
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From: |
Chit Chapandori, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (there was a NaSaKa camp in the village) | |
(The two witnesses gave evidence together)
The witnesses arrived at the end of 1997. They had seen forced labour being performed for the NaSaKa. The NaSaKa members came to the house of a neighbour of witness 36 just before she left for Bangladesh. Twelve to 20 persons were requisitioned on this occasion to carry baggage. The same had occurred several times before. The assignment could vary and might last between half-a-day and a day, about four times a month. Villagers were also requisitioned to clean the NaSaKa military camp.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
37 |
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Age/sex: |
35, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with three sons and two daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer (paddy fields) - ten khani (3.8 acres) | |
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From: |
Dumsofara, Rathedaung township, Rakhine State (there was a NaSaKa camp in the village) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the end of 1997. He has had to perform various kinds of work such as: construction of military camps; digging work for breeding ponds; woodcutting and road-building. He had to do digging work for ponds less than one month before his departure. With regard to woodcutting, some 50 to 60 people had worked with him. He had to transport the wood that had been cut and work on the building of camps. He had to do this work 15 days a month, six months a year, for around five years. He worked on the building of the road between his village and Chilkali. The road was for the exclusive use of the NaSaKa. For five to six years, 14 to 15 days a month were taken up by forced labour which had to be done for the NaSaKa. He had been beaten for refusing to work. He left Myanmar because of the forced labour and scarcity of employment.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
38 |
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Age/sex: |
40, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with three sons and three daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer (rice paddies) | |
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From: |
Dumsofara, Rathedaung township, Rakhine Stat (NaSaKa camp in the village) | |
The witness left Myanmar in early 1998 because life had become intolerable there on account of the abuses of the military. He had to perform the same kinds of forced labour as witness 37. For five to six years, 14 to 15 days a month were taken up with the forced labour which had to be done for the NaSaKa. Furthermore, even if the assignment was for a given number of days, the men had to wait for their replacements to arrive before they could leave the work. As a result, they always stayed longer than the expected number of days. The orders came from the NaSaKa, who used the village head to transmit them. It was possible to gain exemption by paying the sum of 200 kyat to the NaSaKa on each occasion. He had paid this sum on four occasions. He could not refuse to work. He was beaten by the soldiers for arriving late at the place of work and for refusing to work. He was occasionally paid by the NaSaKa, in which case he received ten kyat.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
39 and 40 |
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Age/sex: |
30, male (witness 39); 45, male (witness 40) | |
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Family situation: |
Married with two sons and one daughter (witness 39); married with two sons and two daughters (witness 40) | |
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Occupation: |
Day labourer (witness 39); Farmer (witness 40) | |
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From: |
Barachara, Rathedaung township, Rakhine State (NaSaKa camp nearby) | |
Witnesses left Myanmar at the beginning of 1998. Witness 40 had to leave because the Government seized all his lands. He had no means of providing for his family anymore. They had to perform various forms of forced labour such as sentry duty, woodcutting and carrying rations. This work was unpaid. For over four years, witness 39 lost an average of 13 days a month carrying out work for the military. Between 40 and 50 people worked at the same time as he did. Witness 39 last had to do forced labour on the day before his departure. As far as portering was concerned, the assignments usually lasted one day. On one occasion, witness 39 had to go into the deep forest for a seven-day period; he had to accompany the troops on an operation against the rebels. He did not see any fighting. However, two rebels were arrested in Rakhine State. Both witnesses said that if asked, they could not refuse to work. Witness 39 was beaten about one-and-a-half years ago for attempting to run away from the work site to which he had been assigned. He was kept in a darkened room and beaten with a wooden stick.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
41 |
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Age/sex: |
35, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with three sons and four daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer with seven khani (2.6 acres; vegetables and rice, which meant he could benefit from two harvests) | |
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From: |
Rajal, Rathedaung township, Rakhine State (most of the inhabitants of the village were Rakhines. All the Rohingyas left the village at the end of 1997. There was a military camp nearby - 15 km from his home, just outside the village - and a NaSaKa camp, closer than the military camp) | |
The witness had to leave Myanmar at the end of 1997 because, for the last five years, the military had been seizing 50 per cent of his harvests annually (50 per cent of 2,800 kilos of rice). Even by leasing neighbouring land, he was no longer able to meet his family's needs. He took part in the construction of the NaSaKa camp and carried out certain work there afterwards: cutting the grass, maintenance. Three months before his arrival, he worked on the renovation of the NaSaKa camp which had begun two years before. He worked as a day labourer for the NaSaKa camp on average four days a week for five months over a five-year period. Ten to 12 people worked with him. The work involved carrying bamboo sticks, attending to the camp's drainage system and putting up protective spikes. Any reluctance to do the work could lead to beatings. He was beaten on several occasions by the NaSaKa. On one occasion, the inhabitants complained to UNHCR representatives, who made an enquiry. In reprisal, he and some other villagers were severely beaten with wooden sticks. He was usually not paid. No food was provided either. His sons were too young to be requisitioned for forced labour. However, all Rohingyas had to do work for the military. Not the Rakhines.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
42 |
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Age/sex: |
20, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married with one son and one daughter | |
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Occupation: |
Owner of a cart | |
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From: |
Koalong, Sittway (Akyab) township, Rakhine State | |
There were more than 1,000 families in the witness's village. The entire village disappeared four years ago. The military pushed the inhabitants out towards Maungdaw. The families were scattered so as to prevent any communication between them. She had gone back eleven months later to the region where her village had originally been, until the military had again forced them to leave. The witness suffered a great deal of abuse from the military both in the region of Akyab and of Maungdaw. All Rohingya men had to do forced labour. The work consisted mainly in working for the camps: cleaning sanitary installations, carrying equipment and goods, repairing houses. Each family had to provide a member. The work was not paid. Any refusal could lead to a beating.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
43 |
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Age/sex: |
38, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with three daughters and one son | |
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Occupation: |
Small trader - commerce - livestock | |
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From: |
Gediporaung, Rathedaung township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar at the end of 1997. He was fishing in a river and some NaSaKa members asked him to take them across. Once they had crossed the river, they took him to the camp and beat him on the pretext that he did not have the right to fish in that river. He was imprisoned but managed to escape. His family joined him later. He had to act as a porter for the army in a military operation against the Karenni one year before he left for Bangladesh. He stayed six months with the army on the Thai border. Around 3,500 porters had been recruited for 7,000 soldiers. He was caught up in five to six armed conflicts with the Karenni. In these cases, the soldiers ordered the porters to lie on the ground. When a soldier was killed, the porters recovered his weapon, which they then handed back to the soldiers. He was not paid. He was not always fed. There were no shelters to sleep in. Apart from this, he had done other forced labour. The NaSaKa, the army, the police and the customs authorities had camps near his village. As a consequence, he was constantly requisitioned throughout the year by one or other of them. For the NaSaKa, the work involved was related to the camp: putting up defensive spikes, cutting grass. He worked on average 15 days a month for 10 to 12 years. Torture was frequent. Each camp had its torture cell. Orders to provide labour were given by the village head. He also had to pay taxes more times than he could recall. On one occasion he had refused and was beaten.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
44 |
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Age/sex: |
60, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married with two sons, two daughters-in-law and four grandchildren | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer -- 21 khani (7.9 acres) | |
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From: |
Eindaung, Maungdaw township, Rakhine Stat (the village had 500 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the beginning of 1998 because she could no longer bear the torture performed by the military and police authorities. She estimated that no less than 100 families had left Myanmar to come to Bangladesh. The military had seized a large part of her land (14 out of 21 khani), not leaving them enough land to provide for themselves. All adult males had to do portering. They had to carry goods from one camp to another for the military. Four days a month. Never paid. With regard to camp work, they had to work for the soldiers' families: washing their clothes, fetching water, cutting the grass. Her son and grandson were killed by the NaSaKa because they were suspected of being informers for international bodies, particularly UNHCR. She never got her son's body back. The orders were generally given by the village head. The soldiers sometimes came directly to the houses to requisition men. Torture was commonplace. These practices commenced with the arrival of the military seven years ago. Any refusal could be punished by a beating. The military used a red-hot iron for torture (or burned the chin with a cigarette-lighter). If a family did not provide what the NaSaKa requested, then the women were threatened.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
45 |
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Age/sex: |
40, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with one son and two daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Fatur Kila, Sittway (Akyab) township, Rakhine State (village had around 1,200 houses) | |
The witness left Myanmar in early 1997 because life had been made intolerable there. Three years before, his village had been relocated to Maungdaw. The Government had made insufficient land available for the 1,200 families in his village. It had become impossible to survive. He had to carry out forced labour at Kawalaung and Maungdaw. In the former case, there was no NaSaKa camp. Only the military and the police were present. His lands were seized by the authorities to redistribute them to the Rakhines. He had to help them cultivate them. He also had to work on road-building for six years. At Maungdaw, he had to work on road-building and in military camps (cleaning, grass-cutting, installation of drains). He did this work on average four times a week. The orders came from soldiers, who sent them through the village head according to their needs. There was no real schedule. Beatings were frequent. Rest periods were not tolerated. He had personally been beaten three or four times by the NaSaKa. He saw several people being beaten. Some had died. He had to pay taxes to NaSaKa. The amount varied. A typical sum was 1,000 kyat. He had to work as a daily labourer to obtain the money to pay these taxes. Refusal to pay could lead to torture. There was a torture cell in the NaSaKa camp. Stocks were used. Victims' legs were chained up and their arms were immobilized. The person could not move.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
46 |
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Age/sex: |
40, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married with four sons and two daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer with ten khani (3.8 acres; vegetables and rice, so as to have two harvests) | |
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From: |
Kulung, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had 200 families) | |
The Government had seized 50 per cent of their land. This process began six years ago. The family had to leave Myanmar at the end of 1997 as they were no longer capable of producing sufficient rice to feed themselves or pay taxes to the government on the remaining land. Forced labour was commonplace. The Rohingyas had to build houses, carry baggage, provide wood and help the Rakhines. They also had to do sentry duty along the border. On average three days a week over the last six years had been lost on this work. The number of days could sometimes be as high as ten to twelve a month. Orders were given by the village head. Any refusal could result in a beating. Her husband had been beaten by the NaSaKa (hit with sticks about the knees and elbows; he was subsequently unable to work). The reason for this was that he was absent because he had been requisitioned to work on another site. She saw other men who had been beaten by the NaSaKa (blows to the head, hair cut off). Young women who were attractive to the military were taken to the camp. She had personally been taken to the camp and spent four nights there. She had not been sexually abused. She had nevertheless been beaten because, being ill, she had refused to go and work in the fields. After paying a bribe to the NaSaKa, she was able to return home. Over the last six years (i.e. since the building of the new camp), she had to pay a sum of around 50 kyat per month to the NaSaKa. If the villagers were not able to pay, they were arrested and held in the camp - this had happened on numerous occasions in her village.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
47 |
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Age/sex: |
40, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with three sons and one daughter | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer -- 8 khani (3 acres) | |
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From: |
Hiderya, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (a village of around 50 families) | |
The witness had to leave Myanmar at the end of 1997 with 50 other families as he was no longer able to provide for his family's needs, the Government having seized his land a year before. He then had to work as a day labourer. He was also forced to work in military camps and cut wood. He might work for a month without interruption. This assignment could be repeated on average four times a year. He was not paid. The orders were given by the village head. People who refused to work were taken to a torture room in the military camp. They were generally beaten. He was personally tortured 20 days before his arrival in Bangladesh. His arms and legs had been fixed to a piece of wood. He had been kept in this position for two days. For the last six years he had to pay 200 kyat to the NaSaKa on a regular basis. The amount might vary. Any refusal could be punished by a beating or torture.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
48 |
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Age/sex: |
22, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married with one son and one daughter | |
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Occupation: |
Fishing | |
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From: |
Borosola, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (the village had a population of 3,000) | |
The witness left Myanmar on account of the forced labour and abuses perpetrated by the authorities. She was accompanied by 20 other families, all from her village. Fifty to 60 families from his village arrived two months before. She had to perform forced labour: building and repairs at a military camp; building Rakhine houses; portering; and woodcutting. She had to do this for the last six years, 15 days a month. She was not paid. She did not receive any food. Orders were transmitted by the village head. Any refusal could lead to a beating by NaSaKa. Her husband had been beaten several times by the NaSaKa for refusing to obey orders. He had been seriously injured in the back. She knew several other people who had been beaten. She had apparently also been threatened by the NaSaKa when she refused to give them her chicken. She had to pay taxes to the NaSaKa, 100 kyat a month for six years. The sum had increased over the years (at the beginning, it was around 50 kyat). She also had to hand over some of her possessions (chickens or other things).
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
49 |
|
Age/sex: |
25, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with two daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Trading | |
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From: |
Fatur Kila, Sittway (Akyab) township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1997 with 100 other families from his village. There were previously 1,200 families in his village. All these families had left over recent years. He said the Government had transferred them to Maungdaw. He had been transferred back to his village eight months later with around 275 other families to help in construction work for the military. He then went to Buthidaung (the hills). He stayed there for five days. He said he had performed forced labour for the military after his transfer to Maungdaw. Among other things, he had to carry water, make the necessary repairs to the camp, cut wooden poles for building and repairs, and act as a porter from one camp to another. He had to work for the camp ten to 15 times a month. He had to do the same kind of work the same number of times a month (ten to 15) when he went back to his village. The work was for the NaSaKa and the police. At Buthidaung he had to perform work for the NaSaKa. This was mainly woodcutting. He last had to do this kind of work four days before his arrival in Bangladesh. He had a small income in Maungdaw from selling wood. He was beaten on two occasions hen portering for not being able to carry the load allotted to him (a table). He had pains in his back which were a result of the loads he had to carry.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
50 |
|
Age/sex: |
22, male | |
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Family situation: |
Mother, father, three older brothers (and their wives and children) | |
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Occupation: |
Student (farmer) | |
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From: |
Taungpyo, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had 800 families) | |
The witness couldn't take the swearing and beating by the NaSaKa any more, so he left Myanmar in 1992. He was taken for portering by the NaSaKa once when he was about 13. He was returning from school at about 4 p.m. and the NaSaKa took him at gunpoint. He told them he was a student, but they punched him and told him that they didn't believe him. He had to carry weapons and food over a distance of 12 miles. The NaSaKa beat the porters and did not give them enough food (only one spoonful, and only rice or curry, never both). There were 200 or 300 other porters. Other members of his family also had to do forced labour (father and older brothers). Once they had to dig bunkers at the NaSaKa camp. They were also forced to do cultivation for the NaSaKa. One person from each family had to do this, for one day at a time. They usually had to do 12 days of forced labour per month. If villagers worked slowly, when they were tired, the NaSaKa said "fucking Indians" and beat them. They were beaten with bamboo sticks, which caused cuts on the skin like a knife. Once his little finger was broken when he was beaten. All the village had to do the same kind of forced labour; villagers also had to give provisions such as chickens, goats, coconuts and chillies to the NaSaKa camp. After he came to Bangladesh other families from his village also came; they are in the camps. Only one or two went back.
1. According to the authorities, the territory in which the village is situated is part of Chin State.
2. According to the authorities, the territory in which the village is situated is part of Chin State.
3. According to the authorities, the territory in which the village is situated is part of Chin State.