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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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Appendix VII (cont.)
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Summaries of testimony |
51-100 |
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
51 |
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Age/sex: |
25, Male | |
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Family situation: |
Twenty people, including mother, father, brothers, sisters and their families (he is youngest of his brothers and sisters) | |
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Occupation: |
Cultivating land and fishing | |
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From: |
Taungpyo, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1992. The NaSaKa forced them to work, including building roads and cleaning their camp. The NaSaKa used to make work for them sometimes, by making the camp dirty just so they had to clean it. When the NaSaKa went on patrol they took Rohingya students with them as porters (but not Rakhine students). He had to go many times, sometimes for one day, sometimes for up to 3-4 days. The NaSaKa used to take students as porters, because when they went on patrol the villagers were working in the fields and could not be found in the village, so it was easier to find students. The NaSaKa were usually in groups of 25-35, and they would take a similar number of students. The students were given food, and if they obeyed orders they were not mistreated, but if they argued or were unable to do what they were ordered, the soldiers would abuse them. He was never beaten, but he saw others beaten. If the Rohingyas performed prayer or other religious duties, the NaSaKa didn't like it and tried to prevent it. He also had to go to the forest and cut trees for timber. He had to do this many times when he was a student. His younger and older brothers also had to do forced labour, but this was not talked about in his household, as he came from an upper-class family. He knew that other people from his village had to do other kinds of forced labour, but he never witnessed it himself. The NaSaKa didn't bother about written orders or informing the village head, they just grabbed whoever they needed directly. He knew of people who died while carrying out forced labour. One person who was 16 or 17 could not carry the big log he was ordered to, fell down and so was kicked to death by the NaSaKa. He saw the body himself. Forced labour was a very big burden for the people because it meant that they were unable to earn a living. They also had to pay taxes to the NaSaKa--25 tin (bushels) per acre of land (with only one rice crop per year). They also received random orders from NaSaKa camps to give cash or food. These taxes were only exacted from Muslims, not Rakhines. After 8th Standard he moved to Maungdaw (he was 18 or 19) and stayed with his brother there. He managed to avoid forced labour while in Maungdaw, by running away when troops came around rounding up people for forced labour. When he was in Maungdaw, an allegation was made against prominent Muslim students (including him) that they were RSO, but he was not in fact an RSO member. This was the reason he fled to Bangladesh.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
52 |
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Age/sex: |
21, male | |
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Occupation: |
Shopkeeper | |
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From: |
Taungpyo, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1990. He was a shopkeeper with quite a big shop and good trade. His shop was in the market, and the NaSaKa used to come and buy goods at the market, then forced him to carry these goods to their camp, so he lost business because he had to close his shop when he did this. He was targeted for this portering because as a shopkeeper he had to remain in the market, whereas other people would run away when the NaSaKa came to the market to avoid being taken as porters; the NaSaKa did not allow him to try and find a replacement that he could hire to go in his place. He would usually have to carry the goods to the NaSaKa camp at about 4 pm, and if the camp was near he could return the same day. Sometimes he was prevented from leaving after he had carried the goods to the camp, and was forced to stay at the camp, for up to 4 days. Once he tried to ask the NaSaKa to find someone else to be a porter, because he had a shop, but one of them threw a knife at him, which cut his knee. Other times he was beaten, and was bruised, but received no permanent injuries. He also had experience of being taken as a porter while travelling on the road.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
53 |
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Age/sex: |
20, male | |
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Family situation: |
Nine (including parents, younger sister, younger brother, wife and children) | |
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Occupation: |
Casual labourer, collecting firewood/bamboo for sale, as well as cultivating his 8 khani (3 acres) of land | |
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From: |
Chin Taung, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had 8,000 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the end of 1997 with all nine members of his family and along with many others from his village. Five hundred other families from his village have come to Bangladesh in the last two years. In Chin Taung the people were not able to do their own work, because of forced labour. Sometimes they had to do 12 to 14 days forced labour at a time, and they had to take their own food; sometimes they did not have enough food for the whole period and went hungry. Sometimes they only had five days break before being called for forced labour again. He had to do an average of 15 to 18 days of forced labour per month, so he had no time left to earn a living. Sometimes the NaSaKa would steal the food that the villagers brought with them, sometimes in order to eat it, but sometimes they would just throw it away to make problems for the people. He was beaten many times, sometimes without any particular reason; once he was punched several times in the chest by a soldier wearing a ring. They also had to pay a tax of 50 kyat and 20 chickens per fortnight, but they were usually unable to pay the cash. When this happened, they were punished by having their head, arms and legs put in stocks. This never happened to him, but it happened twice to his brother, for about eight hours at a time. Only Rohingyas had to pay tax and do forced labour. He wanted to move to Olafe village (because of excessive taxation and forced labour in Chin Taung), but this needed permission from the Village-tract LORC Chairman, which required 500 kyat. He did not have this money, so he moved without obtaining permission. After eight nights at Olafe he was arrested and then beaten by the Village-tract LORC Chairman for not obtaining the required permission, and forced to pay 1,000 kyat. Five days before he fled to Bangladesh, he had to stay 17 nights for forced labour carrying rice bags for the military. When he returned to his house he had no food, so he sold his cow for 6,000 kyat (1,000 kyat of which was taken by the NaSaKa in tax) and left.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
54 |
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Age/sex: |
27, female | |
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Family situation: |
Seven (husband and five children) | |
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Occupation: |
Family cultivated their own land | |
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From: |
Khandong, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had 900 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the beginning of 1997 with her family (she had left before in 1992 but went back). Fifteen days before she fled, a SLORC minister arrived in the village by helicopter and announced that a pagoda was to be built in the village. After this other SLORC officials arrived and announced that 60 families were to be forcibly relocated to make way for this pagoda, and that they had to move within 15 days. Another, larger area (300 families) also had to relocate within three months. This larger area was for Rakhine people to settle - since there was a pagoda, the officials wanted it to be a Buddhist village. The people in her village had to do forced labour. Groups of 20 to 40 people were taken away for periods ranging from seven days to three months. They had to construct roads, clear jungle, level ground. There was forced labour every month; her 12 year old son also had to do it. This had been going on since before the first time she fled to Bangladesh. The only thing that had changed after she returned to Myanmar was that there was then also portering for the patrolling NaSaKa, as well as the other kinds of forced labour. They had to do seven days of forced labour at a time, with seven days' rest in between, but the forced labour period was often more than seven days, and could be up to one month. Only Rohingyas had to do forced labour. When she returned to Myanmar in 1995, there was similar taxation and forced labour, but the duration of forced labour had increased from about three days at a time to up to 14 days at a time. The tax which had to be paid was a proportion of the rice crop; tax also had to be paid for renovating a house and for the birth of livestock or sale of livestock (700 to 1,000 kyat); one time her brother-in-law's house burned down and he had to pay tax to the NaSaKa to rebuild. She knew one person who was killed while doing forced labour. The person went for seven days of forced labour, and was killed because he was working slowly. The person was asked to clean the yard, and was slow to comply and tried to refuse, so he was beaten with a stick above the ear, and died. He was 30. The body was not returned. She also knew of another villager whose hip was fractured. She also heard that eight people were killed in another village, but since Muslims were not permitted to travel (particularly women), people in her village did not see this, but they did find one body in a canal. She criticised the UNHCR for saying that the situation had improved; when they went back they could not stay even 15 days before they had to do forced labour again. They found that the situation had not improved.
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Ethnicity: |
Bengali |
55 |
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Age/sex: |
30, male | |
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Occupation: |
Journalist for Ajker Kagoj newspaper, since 1990 | |
The witness was a local Bangladeshi who travelled frequently to Myanmar (though not as a journalist, since foreign journalists are not allowed to enter). He said that currently the Myanmar authorities were accusing the RSO of using the Bangladesh side of the border as a base from which to launch cross-border attacks on the NaSaKa. He thought this accusation was true. The NaSaKa were rounding up villagers to guard the border at night to prevent the RSO from crossing. He had witnessed this himself in villages in Myanmar. Villagers in Myanmar were also forced to give 40 kg of rice per hectare of land in tax, regardless of what crop (if any) they actually cultivated on the land. He had gathered a lot of information on oppression and forced labour, and in his opinion the situation had not improved since the last influx in 1991/92; it may even have become worse. He had seen the Rohingyas being treated like animals by the authorities. He has seen Rohingyas doing forced labour, as porters for the NaSaKa; he often saw this when he went to Myanmar. As more and more people became internal or external refugees, this increased the forced labour load for those who remained, which was one reason why the situation might be getting worse. Also, young Rohingyas were now being accused of being RSO, so they had to flee. He had also seen evidence of maltreatment of Rohingyas, in the form of bruises and cuts. He thought that the number of Rohingyas who had come to Bangladesh since 1978 was not less than 1.5 million, with at least 25,000 in the last year. He considered that there might soon be another major influx. One indication was a recent upsurge in RSO activity over the last one to two months. In the past this had resulted in retaliation by the NaSaKa on the civilian Rohingya population, causing them to flee. This happened before the 1991-2 influx. He knew of UNHCR projects in Bawli Bazar and Shahad Bazar in the north of Maungdaw township, where the people working on the projects were supposed to be paid, but in fact the UNHCR paid the NaSaKa, who implemented the project, but they did not pay the Rohingyas.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
56 |
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Age/sex: |
19, female | |
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Occupation: |
Family cultivated land, vegetables, betel | |
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From: |
Dub Ru Chaung, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had 300 families) | |
The witness was a refugee before, in 1991/92. She was repatriated and returned to her village, but there was no reduction in forced labour. She returned to Myanmar again in early 1998. The forced labour could last up to one month or six weeks at a time, so there was no way to make a living. They had to clear jungle, cut poles for construction, clean latrines, and work in NaSaKa paddy fields. Every family had to do this, but only Rohingyas. After repatriation her husband used to go to the forest to collect wood to sell. One time he was doing this when he was supposed to do forced labour, so he was beaten by the NaSaKa and his leg was injured and cut. He became angry after this and started complaining about the country and saying he wanted to leave. This came to the attention of Military Intelligence, who falsely accused him of being a smuggler, so he had to flee. Labourers were taken from the road or market; sometimes orders were given to the village head; sometimes people were taken directly from their houses. Sometimes girls were taken from the street to the army camp. She knew four girls from her village who were raped in this way (this happened after her repatriation). Rice and money had to be paid as tax, but only Rohingyas had to pay this tax.
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Ethnicity: |
Rakhine, Buddhist |
57 |
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Sex: |
Male | |
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Occupation: |
Retired Lieutenant Colonel | |
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From: |
Not applicable | |
Witness spent his career in the military forces on the Bangladesh side, fought in three wars (Second World War, 1947 Indo-Pakistan conflict, 1971 Bangladesh independence war). He had never been to Myanmar because people there felt he was one of them and should have served in their armed forces, rather than Bangladesh's. He had no particular information about the current situation in Myanmar. Since the Bangladeshi side of the river was now silted, most people fished on the Myanmar side, fishermen came over to sell their fish in Bangladesh. Border control was not very strict.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
58 |
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Age/sex: |
27, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with two children; has three brothers and two sisters | |
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Education: |
2nd Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Day labourer | |
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From: |
Sabbi Taung, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Buthidaung township for Bangladesh in July 1992, was repatriated in 1996 and came back to Bangladesh in early 1997. After his repatriation in 1996, he had to do various types of forced labour for the military in Buthidaung township: making fences for military quarters, building barracks, digging soil, collecting firewood. He was not paid and even had to bring his own food. He had to go three or four times a month, sometimes for a week at a time, sometimes four or five days. The Sabbi Taung village head would get the written order from the military then tell the villagers to go; if the village head failed to send the villagers, he would have to go himself. Sabbi Taung had about 350 families; the village head would ask one person per family to perform forced labour. In the absence of a husband, in principle, a woman had to go, but she could send another person paid by her. In practice, he has seen women do forced labour. As for children, the military would not take a real minor (below ten) because he could not work. Naikangtaung was the main camp. Forced labourers were collected there from various villages and distributed to where needed. He had to go on foot for about ten miles from Sabbi Taung to Naikangtaung and, as needed, from there also on foot for six to seven miles to Sindi Prang or Poimali. He had to stay the nights where he worked and bring his food rations with him. After he was repatriated in 1996, the UNHCR had given some food (rice) rations for working on a pond for drinking water for Sabbi Taung village. The village head, at UNHCR's behest asked for labour (volunteers). If someone did not want to go, he would not go. He himself had worked like a contractor, 40 persons working on the pond for 15 days would be given a number of sacks of rice and divide this among themselves. He worked there for a 20-day period, but had to leave the pond work during the same period when instructed by the authorities to do forced labour. He thus had to go twice, once for four days, once for five. This happened 15 days after he was repatriated. He also had to do portering for soldiers on patrol. Once, before his 1992 exile, for two months in a row. After his repatriation, he had to go twice for ten days each. Before his 1992 exile, he was injured (showed his scars below the knee) when carrying heavy baggage along and falling. Wound from falling (not beating) took a long time to heal. He received no treatment. In 1996 (between repatriation and second flight), besides working for military camps the witness did not have to work for road building, but before he first left in 1992, he had to work for the planned road from Buthidaung to Sittway (Akyab). He had seen forced labourers being beaten by soldiers: if they could not carry out orders in time, did not understand the language of an order, took too much time for their meal, or were incapable of carrying the soldiers' belongings (the soldiers did not care about the weight). Also, if anyone did not respond to the village head's call up for forced labour, his name would be given to the military, who would arrest him and seriously beat him up. After his repatriation, he had seen people from his village beaten by the soldiers in about 20 cases. There were instances where people were shot dead but he had not witnessed any, though he had seen, before 1992, a 30 to 35 year old man from his village, whose name he did not remember, being beaten up so seriously that he later died. He had not witnessed any cases of sexual abuse of women from his village. In other villages, when the soldiers went to look for labourers and all the males fled, they took women to the camp. He heard this from eyewitnesses from Poimali village before 1992.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
59 |
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Age/sex: |
45, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with four children. Has two brothers and two sisters | |
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Occupation: |
Selling his labour | |
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From: |
Perella, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State | |
The witness came to Bangladesh for the first time in 1992 and was repatriated the same year. He came to Bangladesh again in early 1998, leaving his family behind in Myanmar because life had become very difficult, with too much forced labour and too many donations. He had to do forced labour many times for all three (two military and one police) camps near his village: clearing the ground, digging soil, collecting firewood, carrying water. He also had to give toll ("donation") money collected by the village head for the military intelligence. He had to go exactly once every month, for a week or sometimes ten days of forced labour. The village head's jurisdiction extended over seven villages with about 350 families. In Perella village there were about 35 families, and the village head called up by rotation ten persons at a time from his village about three times a month (the same for every other village), then distributed them to the camps. In addition, when the military were moving from one place to another, they could catch someone and take him as a porter. On 5 January 1998, he and his brother were going shopping in Sabbi Taung and his brother was caught on the way and had to carry the soldiers' belongings; he did not know where to or for how long. In 1997, he worked for a UNHCR road-building project. When called by the local village head, he volunteered to go for 16 days and got in return 21 kg of rice. But while working for the road, it was his turn to go for forced labour so he sent a substitute, to whom he paid 150 kyat. Once, late in 1997, he refused to go for forced labour. When called by the village head, he told him "If I go, my children will die". So his name was given to the military. He was arrested on the same night, at midnight the military came to his house, took him to the Jadi Taung police camp, beat him up and held him until 3 p.m. the next day. He was released after his mother had sold her ornaments and given 2,000 kyat to the camp-in-charge. He had seen some other cases like that. He was never paid for forced labour and had to bring his own food. Once, over a year ago, he got sick with a bad stomach pain and was about to die, during forced labour in Buthidaung - Naikangtaung camp, the biggest, central military camp, where he had to go once every two or three months, on foot, 14 miles from his village. He always stayed at the camp when doing forced labour. When sick, he was not given any medicine. His friends in the camp carried him to a nearby civilian hospital, where he was given no medication, and had to go back to the camp. In the camp, he was allowed to rest, guarding the belongings of others. There were very few military people who were good, but this was a good one.
Seven to eight months ago in Poimali (Taraing camp), he witnessed a person being shot dead. In the camp there was a Mazi (leader) for every 80 labourers, and a head count by the military three times a day. In the evening, two persons from his group had disappeared. A soldier asked the Mazi to go a little bit further and shot him dead (name of victim: Hassan from Poimali village; 40 to 45 years old). In another incident three years ago, a man from Jadi Taung, Abdu Salam, had to collect bamboo for the military and was beaten to death. The witness was with him, they carried him back. There was an instruction for 100 pieces of bamboo per day to be cut per labourer. Abdu Salam could not complete 100, so when asked by a soldier he talked back because he knew the Burmese language, and for that reason was beaten to death. If a woman heading a household without adult male members was called up to supply labour, she could send a substitute labourer or a child. A widow with no children and who had no money would be asked to go to the village head's house. It depended on the village head, sometimes she had to work for the village head with his wives. With regard to children, boys would be taken from the age of ten upwards, sometimes it depended on size. Finally, he saw a 30-year-old woman from a nearby village raped at Poimali military camp seven to eight months ago. The village head gave the list of those refusing to do forced labour to the military: they went to seek these people. If they did not find the men, they took the women for three to four nights to the camp. So the woman was taken because they could not find the man. The women could not be seen in the camp; they were kept in a room.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
60 |
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Age/sex: |
30, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with four children; has four brothers and four sisters | |
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Education: |
2nd Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Businessman, ran a shop in Maungdaw town. (Came to Teknaf in Bangladesh on a transit permit every week for two to three days to buy things, then went back to sell them in Maungdaw.) | |
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From: |
Su Za, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State(a village very close to Maungdaw town) | |
The witness was doing business when obliged to do forced labour, so he sent another person to whom he paid 200 kyat, two or three times per month. So he paid 400 kyat per month if it was two times and 600 kyat if it was three times. The order for forced labour came from the local authorities. The forced labour was for a NaSaKa camp, to build houses and dig soil. If there was nothing to do in the camp, the witness still had to send a labourer. He did not always send the same labourer. His understanding was that each time the forced labour was for one day only. When questioned why he had to do less forced labour than witnesses interviewed earlier the same day, he said it was because he was from a town (Su Za being virtually a suburb of Maungdaw). He wished to add that in town especially, the police stopped him often to take money out of his pocket without any reason; whatever they found in his pocket if they saw he was from a village, coming to town, "They behaved like robbers".
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
61 |
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Age/sex: |
45, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married with nine children | |
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Occupation: |
Housewife | |
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From: |
Gariroa village near Fatur Kila, Sittway (Akyab) township, Rakhine State | |
The witness stayed at her village until the whole population was relocated to different places over two years ago. She then stayed with her family for over six months in Dumsofara village, Rathedaung township until they came to Bangladesh one-and-a-half years ago (mid-1996). Before her relocation (over two years ago), the witness had to perform forced labour herself, carrying bricks for walkways in Tunku Shai military camp. The military gave the order to the village head, who did not ask her personally to go, but one person per family, so, if her husband was busy, she had to go (her husband made a living from two ox carts with four oxen). She had to go sometimes two or three times a month, sometimes once a month, sometimes for seven days in a row, sometimes for two or three. They did not know in advance for how long, the village head only collected the labour, then the military decided. She had to stay overnight at the camp. When her husband was there, he went. If someone was called and arrived late at the camp, the person was beaten by the soldiers. She had not seen this herself. Other women who had to perform forced labour at the camp were sexually molested and raped by the soldiers, including her husband's sister, in the camp, when she was taken as a porter six or seven months before the village was relocated. She did not know the name or rank of the soldier who raped her sister-in-law.
Relocation. In the Fatur Kila area, Muslims were a minority. Five Muslim villages, including Gariroa, were relocated "by Government order" over two years ago. Gariroa village was near the town and the whole Rohingya population was just removed, not for road building or some similar reason, and dispersed to several villages of Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships. Her family and a few others to Dumsofara in Rathedaung township. One day at 3 p.m. their house was marked, and the next morning they had to move, leaving their house behind; they were unable to organize their things. They had to leave their two ox carts and four oxen behind, the basis of their livelihood. The "authorities" came with guns and sticks, they were beaten because they were late moving, and were sent to Buthidaung by boat. From there to Dumsofara by truck and on foot. They were promised land in the new place but were not given any. They were not able to build a house, just a small hut smaller than the (small) hut they were currently in, and lived "almost as beggars". In the new place as in the old, they were not allowed to move to other villages, to stop them from going back to their old village. In any case, after the election of 1989/90, a new law prohibited people from moving, not only Rohingyas.
After relocation. In the new village, Dumsofara, none of the relocated Rohingyas from Gariroa were asked to do forced labour in the six months or more that the witness stayed there, while the original population of Dumsofara had to do forced labour. Most of the population was engaged in fishing, so they had to fish for the military authorities who came almost every day after fishing to see what they caught, and took all the good fish. In addition, they had to collect firewood and bamboo for the military, and work in their houses.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
62 |
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Age/sex: |
35, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with two sons and three daughters | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Lambabil, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State two military camps and a military intelligence camp were near the village) | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1991 because of the torture to which he had been subjected and the forced labour he had to carry out. He could no longer provide for his family's needs or farm his land. He had to carry out forced labour from the age of 12. There was not really an organized system. The order came from the camp, using the village head as intermediary, who sent a messenger to find the required labour. He had to do labour on average five to seven times a month. The work lasted an average of three to four days. There was not always somewhere to sleep. He had to bring his own food. He was not paid. It was impossible to refuse. The punishment for refusal was arrest. His wife looked after the farm during his absence. Each family had to provide one member to work. He was then the only one in his immediate family who could do this work. It was possible to pay a substitute (but he never did because he did not have enough income). It was not possible to bribe soldiers to avoid work. He had to put up fencing or bamboo in the camps (for vegetable gardens and animals that the soldiers kept there) and collect wood. He also had to do portering for the soldiers, carrying their food and munitions. He never saw any fighting. He acted as porter about twenty times. The assignments lasted from one to five days. Even if the order specified a given number of days, he often had to stay longer until other porters came to replace him. The soldiers confiscated food in the villages they had to pass through and he could eat the leftovers. He was beaten several times when he was unable to carry the loads. He believed that the situation in Myanmar has not changed (someone who arrived from there recently confirmed this to him). Finally, while in Myanmar, he had to pay a rice tax proportionate to the family income, which was used to feed the soldiers. The tax could not be avoided.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
63 to 65 |
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Age/sex: |
25 to 30, female (witness 63); 25 to 30, female (witness 64); 20 to 25, female (witness 65) | |
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Family situation: |
Married with five children (witness 63); married with two children (witness 64); married with five children (witness 65) | |
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Occupation: |
Husband was a farmer (witness 63); day labourer (witness 64); farmer (witness 65) | |
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From: |
Saab Bazar, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (witnesses 63 and 64); Inn Saung, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (witness 65) | |
The witnesses came to Bangladesh in early 1997 because of the forced labour which deprived them of the means of providing for their own needs. Their only choice was to leave Myanmar. The situation had grown worse in that respect. Only men were subject to forced labour, about eight to ten months a year. They had to collect wood, bamboo canes, build houses and act as porters between two villages or two camps. Witness 63's husband was requisitioned to work as a porter for over a month just before he left for Bangladesh. He decided to leave when the authorities requisitioned him again for portering work. The work was not paid and there was no possibility to refuse, as any refusal could lead to torture and beatings by the military. It was always possible to send a substitute, since the rule of one male member per family still existed, it didn't matter who went. The men carrying out the work were subjected to ill treatment, beatings with weapons or fists and kickings were common. In cases where the authorities could not find the husband, they threatened to take the wives or simply seized the family's property and possessions. Witness 63 knew women who had been taken by the authorities. In her village, the village head had been told to provide the military with women. As he was also a Rohingya, he refused, and told the military to do it themselves. Her husband told her that women had been taken. Also, in Myanmar, donations were demanded from the Rohingyas by the Rakhines to finance all kinds of activity (social activities, religious activities, picnics). The Rohingyas had to help finance buildings. The amount depended on the time and the circumstances. So, in addition to doing unpaid labour, men had to work to earn the money needed to pay these compulsory taxes.
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Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
66 |
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Age/sex: |
25, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married with husband and four children | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer and small trader | |
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From: |
Kachibil, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State the village had about 200 families; there was a NaSaKa camp in the village and a military camp two miles away) | |
The witness left Myanmar in early 1997 with her family. They left Myanmar because they could not stand the situation anymore. They came with another family from her village. More than 40 families from the village had left that year. With regard to forced labour, her husband had to work for the military and for the NaSaKa: gathering wood and fetching water, making rope, house-building, portering. The husband was away five to ten times a month to work. There was no way of providing for her needs while her husband was away. He did not receive any help from the neighbours. Her husband was beaten on many occasions. At least thirty times. He had even been seriously injured on one occasion. If he was unable to carry the loads he was given when he was requisitioned to work as a porter, beatings, punches and kicks were frequent. The order to carry out forced labour came from the NaSaKa or the military, who transmitted it through the village head. They also had to pay considerable amounts as donations. The amounts varied depending on the circumstances, i.e. the activities of the military, the NaSaKa or the Rakhines. About 2,000 kyat. The witness considered that only the rich could stay in Myanmar because they could pay their donations and hire substitutes to carry out the forced labour.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
67 |
|
Age/sex: |
25, female | |
|
Family situation: |
Married | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer | |
|
From: |
Nerebil, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State | |
The witness had come the first time with the flow of refugees in 1992. She went back to Myanmar and left again in late 1997. She had personally been repatriated about six months before (repatriation of July 1997). Her husband was in prison in Bangladesh. After using up the allowance received from UNHCR, she had to come back to Bangladesh because she had no means of providing for her family in Myanmar. She had not personally had to do forced labour. The family had to pay the military several times to prevent her father-in-law being forced to work. This happened at least on six or seven occasions. The amounts varied: 200 to 300 kyat per time. She confirmed that there was still forced labour in Myanmar and that all those close to her had been forced to work.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
68 |
|
Age/sex: |
70, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with two sons | |
|
Occupation: |
Trader -- sold vegetables in the market | |
|
From: |
Naisapuru, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar six or seven months earlier (in mid-1997) because he found that the situation had become intolerable because of the forced labour and taxes to be paid to the authorities. If there were no forced labour and taxes, Myanmar would be a place where people would want to live. The flow of refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh would eventually be reversed. His two sons had to do forced labour: road building, collecting wood and portering for the military. He was unable to give details. He indicated that even the elderly were requisitioned for forced labour.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
69 |
|
Age/sex: |
35, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with two children | |
|
Occupation: |
Day labourer | |
|
From: |
Poimali, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had 4,000 families; there was a large NaSaKa camp in the village) | |
The witness had to leave Myanmar in early 1997 and came to Bangladesh with two families from his village. Several other families had left Myanmar since he left. He left because life had become intolerable for a family with little income. Forced labour and the obligation to pay taxes prevented the men in those families from providing for their needs. He personally had to carry out forced labour: collecting wood, road building. He had to do it on average three or four times a month. He had to be away from his home for one or two days. He was not paid. He could not refuse because he was threatened with torture. As he had never refused, he had never personally been tortured, but he knew several people who had been beaten. The order to do forced labour came from the military who used the services of the village head to transmit the order. He also had to pay considerable amounts in taxes, which varied depending on the circumstances and the needs of the military.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
70 |
|
Age/sex: |
25, female | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with two children | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer | |
|
From: |
Thaimongkhali, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (there was a NaSaKa camp in the village) | |
The witness left Myanmar in mid-1997. Her husband was requisitioned by the NaSaKa for forced labour about two months before she left for Bangladesh. He never came back. The authorities came to her, when her husband was away, to requisition him again. They suspected her of hiding him. She was no longer able to stand the pressure on her and decided to leave Myanmar to come to Bangladesh. Her husband had been requisitioned many times for forced labour: collecting wood, looking after soldiers' livestock, bringing water, carrying soldiers' equipment and rations. Her husband was requisitioned five or six times a month. Before he disappeared, her husband had been requisitioned to work for a month. He was requisitioned as a porter to accompany a NaSaKa patrol. The men who had to carry out forced labour were subject to ill treatment. Her husband had been beaten with a rifle on one occasion when he had no longer been able to carry his load. When the husbands were away, the women were often subjected to sexual abuse. She had personally been sexually abused. The order to carry out labour came from the military, who used the services of the village head. The latter asked a messenger to inform the men of the work they had to do. It was also compulsory to pay the taxes demanded from time to time by the military. The amount and the frequency depended on the circumstances and the needs of the military.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
71 |
|
Age/sex: |
70, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Twelve members (he and his wife and ten children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer | |
|
From: |
Gong Gri, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (before influx there were 40 families in the village, now four) | |
The witness indicated that soldiers came to a village near his (named Poimali) and picked up three students for portering, but they never returned. He feared the same may happen to his sons, and this is why he came to Bangladesh. He arrived in 1991, with 20 other families from his village; he knows of another ten families who came subsequently (some of these have since returned). Every house in his village had to provide at least one forced labourer, for up to 15 days at a time. If there was more than one male who was old enough, then they could take turns. The army took them as porters on patrol in the hill areas. There were two military camps near his village, one north, one south. Then it was the military, now it has been renamed NaSaKa. The villagers had to build these camps (the site would be selected by the military, then the order would be given via the village head to build the camp). The first army camps were built in the area in 1962-65; there has been portering since 1975. At first it was once every three or four months, but later (when he left) it had increased so it was almost every day. Other forced labour included working at the military camp (doing fencing and cleaning). The villagers also had to provide chickens to the military camp every month for food. He had three sons, who had to go for forced labour in turns. During forced labour, if anyone made a mistake in carrying out orders, they would be beaten (with hand or other nearby object). He has seen people return from forced labour wounded or sick (one person had a dislocated ankle); he has heard of people who died during forced labour, but has not seen it. There was no cash given for forced labour, but food was given (not good food, but edible, and only for the labourer, not family). They had to give rice as a tax. Everyone had to give this tax, but Muslims had to give twice as much as others. Also, monthly "donations" had to be give for maintenance of the army camp (about 100 kyat per month, but it was variable). Rakhines did not have to pay this money, or go for forced labour. People who couldn't pay the tax would be detained and beaten, and their land would be confiscated and given to Rakhine people. One month before he came to Bangladesh (in the dry season) Rohingya villagers went to the jungle to collect bamboo, as they always did. Forty-five people went for 15 days to the jungle, and on their return passed near to an army camp. They were seen by the camp and forced to distribute all the bamboo and wood they had collected to Rakhine families. People who have come to Bangladesh after previously being repatriated claim that some UNHCR projects required bricks, and this responsibility was given to the NaSaKa. The NaSaKa opened a kiln, then forced people to collect wood from the forest as fuel, without payment, even though funds for this had been given to NaSaKa by the UNHCR. People who had fled again after being repatriated say they could not stay a second in peace after being repatriated. That is why they fled again.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
72 |
|
Age/sex: |
38, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Seven (he and his wife and five children) | |
|
Occupation: |
His parents had a farm, he was a trader and shopkeeper | |
|
From: |
Kyein Chaung, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had 800 families) | |
In 1991, the witness was waiting (with others) by the road one night for a rice shipment to arrive. An officer and four soldiers came and rudely asked them what they were doing, since they were out after curfew. They said they were waiting for a rice shipment, and that the soldiers should understand that they still had to do their work in spite of the curfew. Soldiers took him as a porter, tying his wrists with a rope, which they said was to prevent him from escaping. As they moved, three more porters were also captured, and tied up similarly. Then they came to a house with a light on, and the soldiers called out, asking if there were any men in the house. A woman's voice replied that there were not, but a soldier went in to check, and then tried to rape the woman. He did not know if the rape was carried out, because then the husband returned and tried to stop the soldier. The soldier hit the man three times on the head with a stick. The soldier threatened the porters who had witnessed what happened not to tell anyone. At this point the soldiers untied the witness, and told him not to run away, or they would destroy his shop. They then went to another house, but the man had run away, so they took two chickens. The next house they went to there was an old woman and two teenage girls, who were asleep in sarongs. The soldiers ripped off their sarongs, and he thought they would have raped them, but there were too many people around. In that house there was a chest containing clothes. The soldiers found 750 kyat in the chest, and took it together with an umbrella, sarong and some blankets. The next house they went to the soldiers raped a woman. In another house they beat a man with a stick. In the next house, they hit the younger sister of the village head, so she ran to another house, and they followed her and hit the old woman in that house. They collected porters that night until 2 a.m., then returned to their camp. On the way back to the camp, a soldier told him that if he bought him a bottle of alcohol, he could be released. He bought a bottle for 250 kyat, and was released. The next morning a lot of people around his shop were talking and asking what had happened the previous night, saying they had heard rumours. He waited to see what would happen, and four police arrived asking if he had made trouble with the soldiers, and saying that they thought the soldiers would come and get him. That was when he left and came to Bangladesh. He also had other experience with forced labour. Soldiers used to come to his shop, and demand that he carry provisions to their camp. He first did forced labour when he was 15 (the first thing was portering for soldiers on patrol). Portering would usually last for two to three days at a time, and he sometimes had to go as often as once a week, but it depended. The other villagers also had to do forced labour--carrying things, and building and maintaining army camps. (He said that the first army camps were built in the area a long time ago, when the BSPP government came to power.) There was also other kinds of forced labour; everything imaginable, such as digging drainage ditches, building roads, sweeping roads for mines, and all kinds of work associated with maintaining army camps. Forced labour started to increase after 1988. Now people have to go for 15 days or one month at a time, whereas before 1988 it was one day per week. For the last two years, there have been at least 100 people at a time doing forced labour in his village. His father and brother are still there and he sometimes has contact with them, so he still gets information about the situation in his village. During forced labour, the soldiers swore at the villagers and beat them if they were slow, and sometimes they also took money from them. He was beaten one time when he was a porter. His load was too heavy, and he told the soldier he could not carry it as he was not a manual labourer and was not used to such heavy loads; the soldier got a stick and beat him. People in his village also had to pay taxes: whenever the army came to the village the people had to give them food, oil, spices and chillies. It was not systematic; sometimes twice a month, sometimes 4 times, whenever the army came through. He left for Bangladesh because he couldn't stand the situation any more. He left on his own, but all together about 700 families left his village at that time; some were still there, and others went back. Of those who went back, many have fled again, but they did not come to the camp where he was. Some were still coming out (50 families have come recently, gradually, not all at the same time). The recent arrivals gave him information about the current situation. The situation now was not worse than before, but not much better. If anyone complains to the UNHCR, the NaSaKa take revenge on them. People still had to work for 15 days a month for the NaSaKa. The also worked about 15 days a month for the UNHCR, for which they received rice, oil and beans; when they worked for the NaSaKa, they only received a stick (i.e. a beating). The NaSaKa were not involved in food payment on UNHCR projects; the UNHCR had a representative who was himself a Muslim, and he gave them the food directly. He had not heard of the NaSaKa taking the food.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
73 |
|
Family situation: |
Ten (him, wife, six children, daughter-in-law, grandson) | |
|
Occupation: |
Village head | |
|
From: |
Village in Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had 600 households at the time of his leaving) [village name withheld at the request of the witness] | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1990. He was involved with the democracy movement, and after Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested things started to get difficult for him and he had to flee. There has been forced labour in his village since 1962, but it increased greatly after the SLORC came to power in 1988. Now it is the NaSaKa which demands forced labour; before the NaSaKa was set up, it was the army. He had to provide 200 labourers from his village at a time to work at the NaSaKa camps near the village. He had to rotate the 200 people, and they would not be released until 200 replacements arrived. There were no written orders. Army/NaSaKa camps had to be built by the villagers. They had to build the entire camp, and then maintain and repair it once it was built. Repairs had to be carried out mainly at the end of each rainy season. There were three camps near his village (at one, two, and four miles distance from the village, respectively). One of the camps was a small camp, and the village had to provide 50 people permanently to work there, day and night. They had to provide their own food. At one of the larger camps there was a shrimp farm, where there were 400 people at one time from 22 different villages doing forced labour. The profits of the shrimp farm would be kept by the military. All work related to the shrimp farm had to be carried out by the villagers. For example, the villagers would be ordered to collect a given quantity of young shrimps from rivers to populate the shrimp farm. They would then be required to provide a certain quantity of cow manure to the shrimp farm on a regular basis. If the villagers failed to provide the required quantity then he, as the village head, would be put in stocks. This happened to him several times, on one occasion for a period of five days. Sometimes he was arrested and put in stocks as an incentive for the villagers to carry out orders. The villagers had to do all kinds of forced labour for the military/NaSaKa. It was impossible to list all the different forms; anything that needed to be done would be done using the villagers as forced labour, such as collecting timber, collecting firewood, digging trenches. He could not estimate the number of days per month a villager would normally spend doing forced labour, but five days per week with only two days to work for yourself would not be unusual. The NaSaKa did not follow any laws; "whatever came out of their mouths was the law". If a military officer came from Yangon, the villagers would have to provide food for the camp which was hosting him. The NaSaKa beat the villagers. Many people were beaten to death during forced labour. Even old people were forced to do labour, and were punished for not working quickly by being thrown in the shrimp pond. This was even done in winter, when it was very cold. Many old people died in this way. When the authorities wanted to build a secondary school the village had to provide 70,000 kyat for this. Whatever the military put their stamp on, the villagers had to obey. There was also extortion in the form of various taxes. A proportion of the rice crop had to be given to the government, and another proportion to the NaSaKa, and another proportion to the local Rakhines, and another proportion to the Buddhist monastery (even though the villagers were Muslim). "How would you feel if you paid 100 kyat to one soldier, then another soldier came up, and asked for 200 kyat, and so on. That is why people left." There were not many Rakhine people in his area, but those that there were did not have to pay taxes or do forced labour. In his village the Rohingyas were not forced to do work for the Rakhines. The NaSaKa would come to the village head and find out who the rich people were in the village. They would then arrest these people, and accuse them of being rebel collaborators. They or their families would then have to pay 10,000 kyat or 50,000 kyat or whatever the NaSaKa thought they could get for their release. After they had gone around doing this in all the villages, they came to him, because he was fairly rich. He had inherited money from his father and had been able to build a two-storey house. They arrested his eldest son. They tortured his son for seven days. His son was forced to go across sharp stones on his knees, and had thorns put in the soles of his feet. He was also tortured with electricity. They did not know why he was arrested; no reason was given. He was released after seven days after the family paid 50,000 kyat. Then his son was arrested again, this time for 40 days, on the charge of being involved in politics. This was not true. He was scared that his son would be sent to prison in Yangon, and would die. He had to pay money again to get his son released. The total he ended up paying for his son was 400,000 kyat. He had to sell everything he owned to raise this money. He was advised by friends that he should not continue to stay in the village, or he would face more problems, so he decided to flee to Bangladesh. This was during the rainy season. He told no one, not even his mother. He left the village in the middle of the night with his wife, six children, grandson and daughter-in-law. He had some information about the current situation in his village. He had heard that it was a little better since the UNHCR established a presence than at the time when he left, but there was still portering, forced labour and high taxation. The amount of forced labour had decreased, but there were now less people in the villages to do it, so the actual amount that a particular villager had to do had not decreased much. There had been a decrease in portering, however. There were currently about 500 households left in his village.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
74 |
|
Sex: |
Male | |
|
Occupation: |
Student | |
|
From: |
Village in Maungdaw township, Rakhine State | |
The witness, from the same village as witness 73 and present during the testimony of that witness, added: "Buddhist people have temples, and we Rohingyas have Mosques. But our Mosques have been locked up by the authorities so we cannot pray. Graveyards are holy places for any religion, but in our village, an army camp was built on top of the graveyard. They even opened an alcohol shop there. They specially pick out the Muslims for persecution. They deliberately do things insulting to our religion. They rape the women. Our religious leaders are important to our life. They explain the meaning of religious texts to us, but the authorities choose especially these people to do forced labour. I had to do forced labour while I was a school student. We were beaten while we were doing the forced labour. Students from eighth, ninth and tenth Standards had to do portering. People also had to do forced labour building new villages for Buddhist Rakhines. Muslims have no value and no freedom in Rakhine State."
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
75 |
|
Age/sex: |
32, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with one child | |
|
Occupation: |
Soldier | |
|
From: |
Buthidaung town, Rakhine State | |
The witness was present during the testimonies of witnesses 73 and 74, and added the following: he left Myanmar in 1994. He was a Rohingya, but looked like a Rakhine. Muslims were not allowed in the army, but they did not realise he was a Muslim. He demonstrated in the 1988 uprising with other soldiers. At that time the army discovered he was Muslim. Their reaction was: "Oh no, we had a Muslim in our midst all this time and didn't know". He saw the extent of anti-Muslim feeling in the army when he was a soldier. Most soldiers, including the high-ranking officers, were of the opinion that the best thing was for all the Muslims to leave Myanmar, since it was not their country. They wanted all the Muslims to pack up and leave, and the policy was directed to that end.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
76 |
|
Age/sex: |
51, male | |
|
Family situation: |
12 (him, wife and ten children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Bicycle mechanic (owned a bicycle repair shop) | |
|
From: |
Buthidaung town, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1992. The Government oppressed the Rohingyas in many ways. They were not allowed to travel and were discriminated against as Muslims (for example, they were not allowed to have Muslim schools or do business freely). Soldiers would take Muslims from the town to clean up their army camp. This had been going on for decades. The soldiers always said that they were not from Burma. There was one army barracks in the town, but several battalions in the township. They came in 1990. The camps and barracks were all built with forced labour from the local people. The situation was worse for people living in villages. The soldiers would force people to move to make space for an army camp, and then those same people would be forced to build that army camp. Once the army camp was built, the people would be forced to move away, but they would not be given any new place to go to. They were told: "You are Indians. Go back to where you came from." The soldiers would even take their money, saying "This is Burmese money. You are an Indian, so you have no need of this money." Whenever the soldiers moved, they took local people to carry their things. They only took Muslims. They just grabbed whoever they needed, often 100 or 200 people at a time. There was no fixed period that someone would have to do this work. They just had to continue for as long as the soldiers wanted them, sometimes for as long as one or two months. Many people died during portering. They gave the porters no money, and they even would have to bring their own food. When all the men ran away to avoid being taken as porters, the soldiers would rape the women. This happened very often. Some girls were taken away to the army camp and raped there; often they became pregnant as a result. Sometimes the soldiers would kill the girls who became pregnant. In one case, he knew of a girl who was taken to an army camp and raped. She became pregnant, and was kept at the army camp until she had the baby, but she died during childbirth. There was also forced labour that the people in Buthidaung town, including him, were forced to do by the soldiers. They had to clean up the town, and construct roads. There was usually no systematic way that this was organised; the soldiers would just grab people. There was also religious discrimination. The Muslims had no freedom of religion. They could not have Muslim schools. They were prevented from wearing Muslim clothing. They were told: "You can't dress like that. This is not your country. If you want to dress like that, go to your own country." The Muslims also had to pay taxes and extortion which the Rakhine inhabitants did not. Any time the soldiers wanted money, they would just demand it. The people gave them money, but it just got worse, because the people were very poor, and they were always being asked for more money. He was often taken from his bicycle repair shop for forced labour and portering. Rakhine people did not have to do forced labour.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
77 |
|
Age/sex: |
44, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Eight (him, wife and six children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Teacher | |
|
From: |
Village near Buthidaung town, Rakhine State [village name withheld at the request of the witness] | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1992 with his family and his elder brother. In 1990 the villagers had to build an army camp. They had to provide their own food, and were beaten by the soldiers while doing this work. Also in 1990, some villagers' land was confiscated and given to Rakhine families. They had to continue to work on the land for the Rakhine families. They were forced to do this by the army, and were not paid. His land was not taken.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
78 |
|
Age/sex: |
45, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Ten (him, wife and eight children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Township clerk; his family did farming | |
|
From: |
Buthidaung town, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1991. He had his land confiscated and an army camp was built on it. He and other people were forced to build this camp. He also did portering. While he was away portering one time, his wife was raped by soldiers. This happened on the 21 February 1991. That was when he decided to come to Bangladesh. He was a township clerk, and had to arrange for people to do forced labour. He also had to do forced labour himself. If he could not do forced labour, he had to pay a substitute 30 to 50 kyat per day. When he did not have money he would have to go himself.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
79 |
|
Age/sex: |
36, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Five (him, wife and three children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Businessman | |
|
From: |
Sittway (Akyab) town, Rakhine State | |
The witness came to Bangladesh in 1992 because of excessive taxation and forced labour. He could not continue to run his business and do forced labour. He was a trader, a middle-man for trade from Yangon. As of 1990 it was impossible for him to travel any more, and the traders he worked with from Yangon, who were also Muslim, could not travel to him. Some of the Muslims in Sittway had their houses confiscated. They also had to do forced labour. There were about 12,000 soldiers in the area. Locals had to carry supplies to the camps of these soldiers. This started after 1988. He only did forced labour once, in 1988. He was taken as a porter for 15 days in the jungle. The Muslims also had to pay very high taxes, which the Rakhines did not have to pay. As a businessman he usually managed to avoid forced labour, and the worst of the taxes.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
80 |
|
Age/sex: |
30, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with two children | |
|
Occupation: |
Fisherman | |
|
From: |
Mongni Para, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had about 3,000 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar in early 1997 with his family. More than 400 families have left his village. He had to do forced labour for the military in the mountains. He had to collect wood, act as porter and stand guard, since the village was near the border with Bangladesh. He had to work on average at least once a week. He had to do forced labour from the age of 15. He continued until his departure from Myanmar. He had to bring his own food. He was not paid. It was not possible to refuse because any reluctance could result in a beating. He had never refused but he knew people who had and who had been badly beaten. All the families in the village had to provide one man to perform the work. The order to carry out the work came from the military, who transmitted it through the village head. He had to pay money for the construction of schools and all kinds of activities (social, religious or sporting) of the military or Rakhines. If it was not possible to pay, they then had to do additional work in the camps. They had to pay these taxes at least three times a month.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
81 |
|
Age/sex: |
60, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Widower with two sons | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer | |
|
From: |
Khoirmorapara, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had about 300 families; military camp and military intelligence camp nearby) | |
After the death of the witness's wife, he often had to be away to carry out forced labour. Then there was no one to look after his sons. He left with his children in early 1997. More than 100 families have left his village to his knowledge. With regard to forced labour, he had to do more or less everything in the military camp: prepare food, wash clothes, collect wood. The assignment could last up to three days or as much as seven days. He had to work on average ten to 12 times a month. The day generally began at dawn and ended at 7 or 9 p.m. He was not paid. He had to bring his own food. It was impossible to refuse because those who did were systematically arrested. He had never himself refused. It was possible to pay a substitute to carry out the designated work. He did forced labour for the first time at the age of 30. He continued until his departure. The order came from the military, who transmitted it through the village head. The men recruited for the work were subjected to ill treatment. He himself had been beaten when he fell asleep at work. Seventeen people from his village had been killed just before he left. His village had been subjected to reprisals by the military because members of the RSO were supposed to have taken refuge there. He had to pay an average of 40 kyat a week in taxes. That was the amount payable by the poorest. If there was a decision to build a camp, it was built by forced labour and financed by the payment of taxes. That was how the camp near his village was built. The taxes were also used to pay for the various activities of the military.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
82 |
|
Age/sex: |
40, male | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer | |
|
From: |
Fatecha, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had 52 families) | |
The witness came the first time in 1991/92 with several families from his village. Ten stayed and several later went back to Myanmar. He himself went back in 1994 and returned to Bangladesh late in 1996. With regard to forced labour, the situation had worsened between his two periods in Bangladesh. Previously, he had to do six to eight days a month. Before leaving the second time, the number of days had been raised to around ten to 15 days a month. He did forced labour for the first time at the age of ten or 12. He had continued until his departure. He had been requisitioned to build a military camp, collect wood and bamboo poles. He had to bring his own food. He was not paid. He sometimes had to stay a week at the site of his assignment. There was not always shelter to sleep. He slept in the huts he was building. He could not refuse because any refusal could lead to a beating and a fine (about 2,000 kyat). The day began about 6 a.m. and ended at sunset. The order came from the military, who transmitted it through the village head. The men who had to do forced labour were subjected to ill treatment, and were regularly beaten. He himself had been beaten and had even lost a tooth on one occasion. Taxes increased after his return. Before, they were about ten to 15 kyat a month. After his return, they were about 200 kyat a month. Any excuse was sufficient to extract money from them (sporting, religious or social activities). They had ten days to find the money to pay the taxes, without exception.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
83 |
|
Sex: |
Male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with two children | |
|
Occupation: |
Small trader | |
|
From: |
Tatupur, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State (village had about 500 families; there was a NaSaKa camp in the village) | |
The witness had to leave Myanmar because he was accused of belonging to the RSO. He left in early 1997 with his family. Fifty eight families left with him. In 1993, he had to pay 130,000 kyat to the SLORC and the NaSaKa to prevent his family being killed because he was suspected of belonging to the RSO. His uncle, who was returning from Saudi Arabia, was murdered for the same reason. He had to sell his land to pay. He had to leave when the situation became intolerable. As he came from a family with a certain amount of property, he did not have to do forced labour. He could pay substitutes. He had to pay an average of 400 kyat three or four times a month. He had to pay substitutes for the first time when he was a child. The order came from the army which transmitted it through the village head. All the men in his village were subject to forced labour, with each family having to provide one member. The treatment to which they were subjected varied. If, for example, a group of people had been ordered to provide a certain quantity of bamboo and did not achieve the specified quota, the whole group was punished. For the wealthiest, the fine was mostly a sum of money. The others were sent to Bangladesh. With regard to taxes, he had to pay money for all the activities organized by the military (games, pagodas, religious activities). He had to pay an average of 400 to 500 kyat a month.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
84 |
|
Age/sex: |
30, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with four children | |
|
Occupation: |
Small trader | |
|
From: |
Kachibil, Maungdaw township, Rakhine State (village had about 180 families; there was a NaSaKa camp nearby) | |
The witness left Myanmar in the course of 1997. He escaped from the NaSaKa camp where he had been held prisoner for seven months because he had only paid 800 kyat out of the 1,200 exacted by the military. He was later joined in Bangladesh by his family. About ten families accompanied his own when they left. He had come to Bangladesh the first time with the influx of refugees in 1991. He was repatriated in 1994. He thought that the situation grew worse in the time between his two stays in Bangladesh. Previously, forced labour was mainly for the police. Now, men had to work for the NaSaKa. The conditions were more difficult and dangerous. Bribes were also higher. During the day, he had to work in the camp: general cleaning, washing soldiers' clothes, collecting wood, building paths and tracks inside the camp. At night, he had to do sentry duty for the soldiers. The orders came from the military, who transmitted them through the village head. He had to work about three times a week. He had to do it the first time when he was a child. He had to bring his own food. He was not paid. He could not refuse. When he was repatriated, he was even arrested, and the authorities asked him to pay them the money received from the UNHCR.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingy |
85 |
|
Age/sex: |
40, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Two (him and wife) | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer | |
|
From: |
Fansi, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State | |
The witness came to Bangladesh in 1991/92 because of various forms of oppression which meant that his family could no longer make a living. There had been forced labour in the area for the military since the time he was born. There were two army camps at Sindaung, and people from his village were made to do forced labour there. He went once himself, and three other times he paid money to hire a replacement. There were many other kinds of forced labour. He used to have to spend about half his time doing forced labour. He would have to work for a week, then have one week to do his own work, then he would have to do forced labour for another week, and so on. There were many different kinds of work: portering, collecting bamboo, levelling and clearing ground for the construction of camps, constructing buildings, clearing jungle to make land for cultivation and so on. He was abused and beaten while doing this work. One time he was slow while portering, and the soldiers were in a hurry. He was beaten and still has pain in his wrist now from the beating. The other time he particularly remembers was also while portering. His load was very heavy, and he stumbled forward, and some of his load fell, so he was beaten. When he was away doing forced labour, his younger brothers would take care of the farm work, and when they were away, he would do it.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
86 |
|
Age/sex: |
46, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Nine (him, wife and seven children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Trader | |
|
From: |
Buthidaung town, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in March 1992. He was a trader. He traded in timber and rice, and then he bought a license to buy and sell cattle. He did not have freedom of movement, and so had to pay money to get travel passes whenever he wanted to travel more than eight kilometres. He also paid about 30,000 kyat per year as a trade tax. He saw many people taken for forced labour. He also knew of women who were harassed when their husbands were away doing forced labour. Because his job meant he travelled a lot, he gained a lot of experience about the situation in different areas. Because people regarded him as an influential Muslim, they would tell him about their situation and problems, because they thought he had some influence with the authorities. In this way he learned a lot about the situation in the areas he travelled to. In his regular dealings with the authorities, he would pass on information about the situation in different areas. Whenever he got a pass to travel somewhere, he would have to report back to the authorities when he returned, and at this time they would ask him where he went and what he had done. It was at this time that he passed on some of the information he had been given by the villagers. The authorities became annoyed because he always knew very well what the situation was in different areas, and they began to suspect him. They thought he was involved in politics and was doing work for the NLD. He was warned by friends in the local administration that he would face some problems, and so he decided to leave. He never did forced labour himself, but he often saw other people doing forced labour when he travelled. Two or three times he also saw people being rounded up for forced labour.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
87 |
|
Age/sex: |
68, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Ten (him, wife and eight children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Carpenter | |
|
From: |
Monikul hamlet, Lawadok Pranshi village, Buthidaung township, Rakhine State | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1992. He was born and grew up in Minbya, but moved to Buthidaung township after Second World War. He never did forced labour himself, but one person from his household was required to do forced labour on a regular basis. His three sons would do this, by rotation. This has been going on since 1962. His sons would usually be away for two or three days, doing different kinds of forced labour. He came to Bangladesh because he was a supporter of the NLD, and after the 1990 elections NLD supporters were being arrested. He was worried that he would be targeted because he had filed a complaint with the authorities regarding harassment of women, so he left. He previously came to Bangladesh in 1970, but was repatriated. He does not want to be forced to return again.
|
Ethnicity: |
Rohingya |
88 |
|
Sex: |
Male | |
|
Occupation: |
Village head | |
|
From: |
Village in Buthidaung township, Rakhine State [village name withheld at the request of the witness] | |
The main reasons why the witness fled to Bangladesh in 1992 were forced labour, taxation, and treatment by the authorities. After the elections in 1990, the SLORC did not accept the results, and began arresting students and community leaders. At this time, some people started to flee. Forced labour and oppression started to increase. Women who were left alone in villages were harassed. Property and land were also confiscated from the Muslims. As more and more Muslims fled, the situation began to break down. The authorities imposed strict travel restrictions on Muslims. Farms, shrimp ponds and other assets were confiscated from Muslims and given to Rakhines. His whole village had to do two days of forced labour each week, every week of the year. Treatment by the soldiers was very bad; many villagers were beaten.
|
Ethnicity: |
Karenni |
89 |
|
Age/sex: |
28, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with one son | |
|
Occupation: |
Teacher from 1988 to 1990 (primary school) in his village, then joined the KNPP | |
|
From: |
Paloaung, Loikaw township, Kayah State (village had some 40 families; army camp in village since 1990) | |
The witness left Myanmar on 12 May 1997 with 12 other people from his village. Several other families came later. He had to work in an army camp when he was 21/22 years old (six years earlier) for two years. He had to work all year round, two to three times per month. He worked on security and electrical installations. The orders to work there generally came from the village head. The military came on a number of occasions directly to the houses to find the necessary labour. Each family had to provide one member to work. Men and women had to work in the camp (up to the age of 60). Women, about ten of them, had to cut bamboo and split wood. The hours could vary. Sometimes he did not work there all day (only two to three hours). Sometimes, the job was for a whole day. He had to bring his own food. He was not paid. He could not refuse. He was not himself beaten, but saw others beaten. It was possible to pay for a substitute (50 kyat a day). However he did not have enough money to do that. He also worked on the railway between Aungban and Loikaw, in 1992, during the Christmas period. His work was on the section near Loikaw. The work site was two days travel away. He travelled the first part by car (a taxi that he paid for) and the second by boat. The work involved laying earth along the planned route. The work was supervised by the army. Some 6,000 to 7,000 people worked on it. Men, women, children (ten to 11 years) and elderly people, without distinction. More than 200 people were working on his section. He had to bring his own tools. He worked from morning (6 to 7 a.m.) to night (7 p.m.) He had to bring his own food, which he ate during the lunch break. He slept in villages along the route. He was not paid. He could pay for a substitute or pay bribes to be exempt. If he did not pay, the order stated that people who failed to obey had to be punished. He had not himself been beaten. He did not witness ill treatment administered to other workers. He also had to pay for the fuel for the lorries. He did not see any trains on the railway before he left. Finally, he had to pay porter fees two or three times. The amount could vary (about 100 kyat). He paid the fees to the village head.
|
Ethnicity: |
Karenni |
90 |
|
Age/sex: |
46, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with two daughters | |
|
Occupation: |
Soldier in the Burmese army from 1972-1983 | |
|
From: |
Loikaw town, Kayah State | |
The witness had to leave Myanmar alone in 1992 because he was afraid of being arrested for being involved in the events of 1988. Prior to 1992, he tried to gather information on human rights violations in Myanmar. With regard to forced labour, he had to work on the railway between Aungban and Loikaw on three occasions. The work site was one hour's march away. He could return home in the evening. He had to bring food and tools. He had to carry out digging and earth moving. Men, women, children (nine to ten years old) and elderly people (over 60) were working with him. More than 150 people in total. A normal working day started at 6 a.m. and finished at 4 p.m. The first time that he had to work there was in December 1990, when the project was just starting. For three months, he had to work three times a week on average, 12 days a month. He had to work on the railway a second time from January to June 1991. The same number of days per month. The third time was from March to May 1992. The same number of days per month. He was not paid. It was impossible to refuse. Workers were afraid of the soldiers' weapons. No one looked after his land in his absence. He had not been ill treated and had not seen other workers ill treated. He did not know if the railway was operating. He thought that only the army would benefit from it. He did not personally do any portering, but he had friends who did. They were subjected to ill treatment and beatings were frequent for any reason. In 1991, a man came back from a portering job near the border and could no longer walk. He also had to pay porters fees. The amount could vary from 70 to 100 kyat. He paid the fees to the village head who handed them over to the military.
|
Ethnicity: |
Karenni |
91 |
|
Age/sex: |
23, mal | |
|
Family situation: |
Single; family of seven (members of his family stayed in Myanmar, Kayah State) | |
|
From: |
Demawso town, Kayah State | |
The witness left Myanmar in January 1993. Orders for forced labour were given by the village head. Each family had to provide one person to carry out the work. When he was 15, he was arrested by the military who required him for portering work. His teacher intervened, arguing that his pupils (twenty of whom had been arrested) were too young to be porters. They were released. He also had to work on the construction of the military camp for battalion No. 427: the construction of the camp began in March 1991, and was completed in January 1992. He worked there for four days in January 1992. He was 16 then. He had to build huts for the military. About 300 people were working there with him, including 50 to 60 children of his age. He did not see women or elderly people on the working site. He could not rest. He had to bring his own food. The day began at 7 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. He could go home at the end of the day. He was not paid. It was impossible to refuse, except by paying 25 kyat to the village head. He did not see any one ill treated. His elder brother also had to work in another military camp during the same period. In addition, he worked on the railway between Aungban and Loikaw on two occasions. The first in February 1991 for one week. The second in June 1991. The work site was about two hours journey by car. The working day began at 6 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Three hundred people worked there with him, including about thirty women, forty children his own age and about forty older people (over 50 years old). He worked on the section at the border of Kayah State and Shan State. He had to level the ground. For that, he had to bring his own tools. He had to sleep beside the track, in the open. Food was not provided. He was not paid. Finally, with regard to taxation, for three years, he had to pay porters fees. About 50 kyat a month. He also had to pay taxes for the railway: on one occasion about 300 kyat. He paid the fees to the village head.
|
Ethnicity: |
Karenni |
92 |
|
Age/sex: |
55, female | |
|
Family situation: |
Widowed (her husband died on 18 November 1995) with one daughter and four sons | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer | |
|
From: |
Mawchi town, Kayah State | |
The witness left Myanmar in March 1995. The military took everything she had. In particular, her village was totally burnt down by the military. She was afraid of the military. They took everything: men, crops, animals. They never paid compensation. She suffered from insomnia. She was forced to work about seven to nine years ago in Mawchi. The work mainly consisted of cleaning the military huts and grounds, carrying food to the soldiers, cutting wood, sharpening defensive bamboo spikes. She saw several people forced to work. She and the others were subjected to ill treatment. Her husband had been a porter on countless occasions. He was not paid, and he was not provided with any food or water. He had to go to the Thai border area.
|
Ethnicity: |
Burman |
93 |
|
Age/sex: |
23, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Four (himself, two brothers and one sister; parents dead) | |
|
Education: |
7th Standard | |
|
Occupation: |
Family were farmers, he joined army | |
|
From: |
Tantabin, Nyaunglebin township, Bago Division (village had 100 families) | |
The witness left school in 1990, joined the army, and became a sergeant. When he was living in the village (around 1985, before joining the army) he remembers villagers being taken as porters, sometimes arranged by the army through the village head, sometimes soldiers came into the village and took people. Ten to 20 people used to go for portering at one time. At that time the village had to provide porters when there were military operations in the area, about once every two to three months, but every house had to pay a monthly porter fee of 40 to 50 kyat. This continued up until the time that he left to join the army. He joined the army in Toungoo, then after one week was sent for basic training for six months in Mingaladon (suburb of Yangon). Then he was stationed with battalion 102 at Ngwedaung in Demawso township in Kayah State. This was when he first saw portering (as a soldier); he saw portering many times while he was a soldier. The porters had to carry loads for the soldiers, and some had to act as local guides for the soldiers. The army got porters in different ways: sometimes a whole village would have to come and work at the army camp; sometimes villagers would be taken through the village head, and sometimes (at the front line) soldiers would take villagers they met to porter for them, or go into villages and grab people. The oldest they took were around 40, and the youngest 13. When the soldiers went on patrol, there would usually be around 30 soldiers and 20 to 30 porters. Sometimes his battalion would take porters for a few months, and occasionally up to a year. Sometimes it was difficult to find an opportunity to release a porter, especially when the troops were moving around at the front line. When on patrol, they would go from village to village or army camp to army camp, sleeping each night at a new place. Porters would be released only when the soldiers had managed to collect new porters. Soldiers would always treat porters badly and swear at them. If they were slow, porters would be beaten and kicked by the soldiers. He saw porters with serious injuries from mine blasts (this was at the front line), porters with malaria, porters with injuries inflicted by the soldiers, and a lot of porters killed by soldiers. When porters tried to escape, they were shot. He has seen porters killed on a minimum of ten occasions; most of these times four to five people were killed, sometimes one or two people were killed at a time. Usually a group of porters would run away and they would be shot. Porters were also injured (on the shoulders) because of the very heavy loads they had to carry; this happened all the time and they were not given any treatment. He went to the front line many times. The porters at the front line had to carry water and shells, and dig bunkers. Sometimes when there was fighting, the soldiers would put the porters in front of them, and if they suspected there were mines in an area, sometimes the porters would have to walk in front of the soldiers. His unit did not collect porter fees, but they would usually take food by force from villages. When they entered a village, the soldiers would first interrogate the villagers asking them what contact they had with rebels. They would arrest people they suspected, and would demand food and alcohol from the village. He has not seen women used as porters, and his platoon never did harm to women, but he has seen women used for forced labour. He has seen villagers forced to build army camps in Demawso, Huay Paung Laung, Hti Hta and Pruso. At least 50 people at a time were forced to build these camps, then four or five people to maintain them. The construction would take around two weeks. Women and children under 13 were not usually used for this work. Orders for building army camps would be given to village heads by the battalion commander, who would call the village heads to the battalion camp. In one case he witnessed at the front line in the latter part of 1992, a large operation involving seven battalions in Kayah State used 3,000 porters over eight months (including government servants, students and prisoners). None of the porters was released over this period. Many porters were beaten, died or were killed. About 500 porters died in this way, two-thirds from disease. Each porter was fed half a condensed milk tin of rice per day, with only salt and fish paste. Porters had to sleep on the ground, and were not given blankets. He was present for the whole eight months. He also saw forced labour many times when he was a soldier. The most difficult was cutting large trees to build army camps. He witnessed this when he was based in Demawso. Orders for forced labour would normally be written orders given from the battalion commander to village heads, who would then arrange villagers to do the work. Sometimes the orders would be given orally. Orders were often accompanied by threats of violence if they were not carried out. He also did labour on the Aungban-Loikaw railway when he was a soldier. He saw many villagers who were forced to do this work--about 1,000 people, but his battalion was not involved in the collection of workers for this project. He and other soldiers from his battalion worked for one month on the railway (doing the labouring, not just guarding), then went back to their battalion. When he was working on the railway, the soldiers and the villagers had to do the same kind of work (clearing and levelling ground), but at different places on the work site. What was different was the way the work was organised: the soldiers had to work for a certain number of hours per day, whereas the villagers were given an assignment to complete a given amount of work, and so it was more difficult for the villagers as they had to finish the work before they could return to their villages. From time to time he would go back to his village, and the villagers all had to do forced labour. People had to go once a week to the army camp three miles from the village, and also had to go as porters for up to four or six months at a time. The villagers had been forced to build this army camp. The life of a soldier was very difficult. The ordinary soldiers were treated very badly by the higher ranks. He deserted because he could not stand the situation any more. The worst thing for him was when at one point in June 1995 the soldiers had no rice for two weeks, and had to survive on jungle leaves (this was at the front line). The rice had been stolen by corrupt people somewhere up the supply line. He always received his wages, but almost every month a proportion was taken as a fine for not carrying out an order properly or some other disagreement. He had wanted to desert since about two years after joining the army; soldiers have to sign on for ten years when they join. If deserters were caught, they would be put in prison. If they took their gun with them when they deserted, they would be killed. Despite this many people were always deserting. He left Myanmar in March 1996.
|
Ethnicity: |
Burman |
94 |
|
Age/sex: |
24, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Six (parents, himself and three younger siblings) | |
|
Education: |
Monastery education only | |
|
Occupation: |
Soldier | |
|
From: |
Tan Daw Gyi township, Magway Division | |
The witness left Myanmar in March 1996. Before that, he joined the army in 1987 (battalion 72), and was in the army for nine years (he was a Private), until deserting with witness 95 in March 1996. He joined the army in Taungdwingyi (signed on for ten years), and stayed there for one month before being sent for training for six months. He then joined Battalion 72 in Kayah State, which was based in Lawpita. The battalion was divided into five companies, and each would rotate at the front line: each company would spend six months at the front line, then rest for a short time, then go again (not always to the same place). He saw portering in Lawpita; his battalion used porters to carry supplies and ammunition to the front line. Porters for the front line troops were taken from nearby and also distant villages. For each group of 30 to 40 soldiers there were about 40 porters. The soldiers used to go into villages and grab people for portering. They took mostly people aged 17 to 40. When they were patrolling, the soldiers would grab porters for a day, then release them the next day if they were able to get more porters at that time. If porters could not carry their load, they would be kicked or beaten; if beaten with a stick, this would often result in injuries such as cuts and bruises. During important times (such as operations), sick porters who could not continue would be shot. The soldiers used to take food from villages for the porters to eat - one condensed milk tin of rice per day, plus curry (not bad food, since it was the same as the villagers ate). When the soldiers went into a village to grab porters, the villagers had no choice but to come: it was an order. If porters tried to run away during portering they were shot. Porters often were injured or died in crossfire during fighting. The soldiers did not put porters in front of them during fighting, or use them as human minesweepers (the unit had a mine expert who could remove suspected mines). He deserted because he couldn't stand the treatment by superiors, especially because they took a part of his salary, and he was unable to support his wife.
|
Ethnicity: |
Burman |
95 |
|
Age/sex: |
20, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Parents, himself, and seven siblings | |
|
Occupation: |
Soldier (Private) | |
|
From: |
Lat Paing Taung, Tharawady township, Bago Division | |
The witness joined the army in 1991. Deserted with witness 94 in March 1996 and left Myanmar. He joined the army in Hmawbyi (Yangon Division), and stayed there for six months, before doing six months' training. He then joined battalion 72 based at Lawpita in Kayah State. He agreed with witness 94's description of the treatment of porters, and the fact that they were not used as human minesweepers. Villagers were forced to do cultivation for the army at his army camp (growing vegetables in the army compound). For this kind of work, one person from each household in the village was required to come to the army camp (the village near the camp had about 500 households). They would not have to come all the time, but would only have to work in large numbers at busy times such as planting and harvesting. Men, women and children all did this work. The soldiers treated the villagers rudely, and swore at them, but he never saw a villager beaten while doing this work. He fled because of a problem with his commanding officer. That officer used to accuse villagers of having contact with rebels, and lock them up. He used this as a means of extorting money from them. While they were locked up they would be beaten and hit with rifles. He had a disagreement with the officer about this and so had to desert. He has heard about soldiers abusing women, but has never seen it himself.
|
Ethnicity/religion: |
Karenni, Buddhist |
96 |
|
Age/sex: |
Born 13 November 1959, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with three children; nine siblings | |
|
Education: |
9th Standard | |
|
Occupation: |
Merchant in Loikaw | |
|
From: |
Loikaw town, Kayah State | |
The witness was convicted of a drug-related offence in April 1996 in Loikaw and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. As a prisoner, he had to do portering for one month from 12 May 1996, going back and forth between Loikaw and Huay Paung Laung, carrying ammunition and weapons. Thereafter, he worked as a labourer in Loikaw in an army camp, digging a fish pond, crushing stones, making bricks. On 12 August 1997, he again did portering ("every time they need labour, they take prisoners to use them as porters") and on 30 August 1997 he fled from portering to Thailand. During portering, and on army camp duty, the prisoners and villagers doing forced labour were always kept separate. As a porter, he never saw soldiers grab a civilian to do porterage. When the soldiers arrived at any village, all the inhabitants had fled, and the soldiers burned down the houses, barns and stores and shot and ate the animals (pigs, chickens). Before his conviction in April 1996, he and his family rarely did forced labour and never did portering because any time the army wanted labourers, they asked the section leader in Loikaw, who had to provide five or ten labourers per section. He or his family members were never chosen, because he paid. There were 13 sections in Loikaw and 200 families in his section, so if they asked for five porters and no one wanted to go, the "porters fees" of 50,000 kyat were divided by the 200 families, all those who did not send a labourer had to pay some 250 kyat. There was no regular amount, it was usually 200 to 300 kyat, and rising. The last time he paid 200 kyat. His porter fees were for his household, those brothers and sisters living separately paid separately. He did not know for how long the porters had to go, he only knew that he had to pay porter fees at least once a month. He witnessed directly other forms of forced labour. For instance, the railway construction between Loikaw and Aungban, begun in 1992/93 and still on-going, was undertaken with forced labour. By order from the army to the section leaders, each section had to finish a given stretch of the railway within a deadline. His section had to do four to five miles, and one person per family had to go for five months. This was near Loikaw, in 1992 or 1993. They went in the morning, came back in the evening, and sometimes took three to four days rest. No family dared to disobey the order, all went. At the working site, they had to sign an attendance sheet. If people did not go, after four or five days the section leader called them and warned them, then fined them. Also, because the army was in a hurry to finish the railway, they did not allow people to take a long rest, even if tired. So if they rested too long, they beat and kicked workers and forced them back to work. He saw people badly injured but not killed. In addition, every Saturday one person per family in the section had to go for one half-day to the army compound to clean it, signing an attendance sheet there. He usually paid 50 kyat to the section leader to find a replacement for him. Sometimes he saw villagers mistreated by the soldiers when working in the compound (but not during weekly cleaning duties). Furthermore, at least two or three times a month he was called up for a whole day for "emergency" work which could be cleaning and repainting buildings when a high army officer visited Loikaw, or building a new pagoda for a special occasion (he was Buddhist, but all religions had to go, including Muslims, Christians). The order came from the section leader in the army. He had to go, there was no choice. If he refused, he was fined 50 kyat by the section leader. Sometimes, when he was not free, he found someone to replace him for 50 kyat, otherwise he went. Sometimes he saw people mistreated during "emergency" work, but not during pagoda construction.
|
Ethnicity/religion: |
Burman, Buddhist |
97 |
|
Age/sex: |
Born 1960, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with two children, five brothers and sisters | |
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Education: |
2nd Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer (independent) | |
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From: |
Chaung Hna Su, Ouk-hpo township, Bago Division (imprisoned since April 1994 in Loikaw, escaped in August 1997 from portering while a prisoner) | |
The witness, when working as a farmer, was imprisoned in Tharawady jail (Bago Division) in April 1990 and sentenced to five years imprisonment, but released in December 1993. While serving his prison term, he worked in June 1990 on the Yangon-Mandalay highway, and in 1991 on an electricity station construction in Loikaw. He was released in December 1993. He had no money to go back to his village and family, so he got together with some friends from the electricity project site, who owned a farm in 6 Mile (Daw Khu Si) village, Demawso township. he stayed at their farm and helped them. In April 1994, some army corporals came and told him to cut electricity/phone wires, which he did out of fear. He was then charged with stealing the cable and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in Loikaw (the corporals were sentenced to three years). He escaped during portering in August 1997. In 1996, all prisoners were taken by boat to clear out and widen Pilu river at Moebye dam for four days, but the security guards forced them to finish the work in two days. Only prisoners, no villagers. During his assignment as a porter, he was always separated from the villagers. In August 1997, before escaping and leaving Myanmar, he saw a fellow prisoner porter who could not stand the weight of his load anymore try to escape, and be beaten to death by the soldiers who found him. He has witnessed villagers doing forced labour. While in 6 Mile (Daw Khu Si) village from January to April 1994, he only heard that upon orders from officers to the village head, villagers went and worked for the army, but he never asked about the work. In 1996, he saw villagers doing forced labour in Loikaw, at the TaKaSa army compound ("army common headquarters") for husbandry, digging fishing ponds, pits. He did not know how long for.
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
98 |
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Age/sex: |
27, male | |
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Family situation: |
Single. Six brothers and sisters | |
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Education: |
4th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Lead mine worker | |
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From: |
Plo Ba, Mawchi township, Kayah State (relocated in 1996 to Lo Kha Lu, near Mawchi) | |
The witness left Myanmar early in 1998. Relocation. Upon an order given by an army officer to the village head, in June 1996 all Plo Ba village moved to a relocation site called Lo Kha Lu, also in Mawchi township, at a half-day's walking distance. Plo Ba village was all Karen, about 50 families. At the same time 12 all-Karen villages were relocated to Lo Kha Lu, where over 150 families now lived. Witness did not know the reason for relocation. No one was allowed to stay in Plo Ba village, they had to destroy their houses themselves. One or two families refused to go and were moved to a different place, all were prohibited from going back. At Lo Kha Lu they had three weeks to build a new village themselves, having carried everything they could themselves from the old village. Lo Kha Lu was at the bottom of a hill, an army post on top of the hill. He worked at the lead mine in Mawchi from 1994 until his relocation and continued thereafter. After relocation to Lo Kha Lu (June 1996), witness worked as a porter three times: twice upon an order received through the village head (for three weeks in August 1996 and for one month only two weeks later). About 150 people had to go each time, including women and boys of about 13 years old; they were not told beforehand for how long, were neither promised nor paid anything, fed one hankaw (soldier's rice carrier, equivalent to four condensed milk tins) of rice for three days and some fish paste and were not allowed to take vegetables from the forest. The third time, in November 1997, he was seized directly by soldiers in Lo Kha Lu village, together with around 100 other people, and forced to carry rice to Buko. He fell sick after a week and could not carry the load anymore; he was given no medicine, but hit with a rifle in his chest, beaten and left on the way; he walked back for two days coughing blood and still has a pain in the chest and cannot work (shows a small scar; he also shows an accidental gunshot scar sustained in 1995 when staying with his female cousin at her request when she was visited at night time by soldiers.) He also saw that when 100 people were seized as porters in November 1997 in Lo Kha Lu, some refused and were hit and kicked, punched in the face by the soldiers, he saw their swollen faces, bleeding. He saw nothing happen to women. In the old village (Plo Ba), before 1996, people had to do portering, including his family, but for short-distance, for instance carrying food rations for one day, once or twice a month. Starting December 1997, many villagers were ordered through their head to work on improving the old road from Mawchi to Toungoo. His family was allotted one mile to fill up holes with stones and widen the road by half a metre on either side. They had to bring all the equipment and food from home. Since their allotted stretch was close to their village, he went and did the whole work with his elder sister in ten days, walking every morning and evening two hours from and to the village. They were not paid anything. In addition, from his village, 15 people at a time were required at all times at the camp, plus people from other villages, altogether about 60 people at a time. Since relocation (as well as before, in Plo Ba), his family had to send a worker about three times per month for four days to the camp. He worked there for the last time in November 1997, upon the village head's instruction (before he was seized as a porter). For two days he dug a bunker; the next two days he started making a fence, which someone else had to finish after him. Furthermore, every Saturday, upon an order from an army officer through the village head, one person per family had to work a half-day to clear the bush around the village and do sanitation. Finally, at least twice a month for half a day, he had to do "emergency" work like carrying food rations or fetch water for the army. Overall, in the last few months of 1997, he had to work five days a week for the army and had only two days a week to work for his family. (Moreover, his sister also had to do forced labour on the road.) In his family, there was only one elder sister and their mother besides him; the other brothers and sisters had left. The father had died. The sister worked in the garden, but the mother could not work because of a stomach problem. At the mine, he received 150 kyat a day for pushing a trolley, but when he did forced labour, he was not paid. He was never paid for forced labour neither at the road building work nor elsewhere.
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Ethnicity: |
Karenni (Padaung) |
99 |
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Age/sex: |
67, male | |
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Family situation: |
Eight (him, wife, four sons and three daughters) | |
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Occupation: |
Tractor driver (previously in government service) | |
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From: |
Loikaw town, Kayah State | |
The witness left Myanmar on 30 April 1997. He had to do forced labour and portering. He had to pay money if he could not go. The forced labour he had to do included digging ground and breaking rocks; he had to provide his own tools. Each family was given a quota of labour to complete. The worst time was in 1992 to 1994 when the Loikaw-Aungban railway was being constructed. At this time someone from each family had to go for the whole week, hundreds of people. They had to take their own food and tools, and even had to make their own arrangements for transport to the work site. Anyone who was not able to go had to pay money. He did this work himself, and his two eldest sons also did it (sometimes in turn, sometimes at the same time). The had to work for up to 10 days at a time to complete the assignment which was given to them, which was very tiring. They were not able to earn a living at this time, and sometimes had to sell property to make ends meet. Since the work site was very far away, they had to sleep there. The orders came from the Ward LORC, who were ordered by the Township LORC. He was never beaten while doing this work (because he was older, and other villagers would help him to fulfil his quota), but other civilians were hit and kicked and some received injuries. They were hit by the soldiers if they were working too slowly or talking too much. There were also prisoners doing the work (in shackles), and they would be violently beaten. He saw many prisoners with serious injuries from beatings, and also many prisoners who had died (usually from being hit with spades by the soldiers guarding them). One evening, he saw six prisoners killed in this way within two hours. He has also done portering twice, the first time in 1974, the second time in 1978. On the second occasion he was a porter for three months in a major military operation; four of his relatives died portering in this operation. The treatment was very bad and the porters did not receive enough food and water. One of his sons was also taken as a porter recently, but they paid 1,000 kyat to have him released. Since 1987 or 1988 people in his area have been forced to do work at army camps (digging trenches and bunkers, building fences), and cleaning pagodas. He never did this work himself, but he saw others do it. People were forced to stand guard around electricity pylons to prevent rebels from sabotaging them. People also had to carry firewood and water to an army camp on top of a hill, because the soldiers were too lazy to go down the hill to the stream to wash. The people also had to do forced labour in rice fields belonging to the soldiers. In Demawso and Loikaw he knows people who had their farm land confiscated by the army and who were then forced to work on the land without pay. They would be told by the army how much harvest they wanted, and if the villagers did not manage to produce enough from the army land, they would have to make up the shortfall themselves. This is very common. Half of his own land was confiscated (three acres of peanut plantations) in 1995; he was also previously forced to work in the army's rice fields, but it was not so much in the towns, whereas in the villages people had to do much more work for the army. Villagers also had to build and maintain all army camps, and provide for the needs of the soldiers; if a senior officer came to the camp, the villagers would have to provide food to entertain him. There was a hill called Sin Taung ('Elephant Hill') near Demawso. The Christians had put a cross on top of the hill, and as an act of provocation, the army forced the Buddhist villagers to build a pagoda next to it. The villagers had to do everything for the army. Owners of bullock carts, horse carts, tractors, boats etc. have to be on permanent standby at the army camp (by rotation) in case the soldiers needed them. In one case he knows of, a bullock cart driver was sent to a village four miles away to buy one packet of cigarettes for an officer. Another time, an officer called a bullock cart to come and take a love letter to a girl in another village. This kind of thing was common. When the Student Sport Festival was held in Loikaw, people were forced to 'donate' all the materials such as bricks and wood and were then forced to build all the necessary infrastructure.
He was a member of the NLD. The authorities forced him to resign in January 1996, but despite this, one night soldiers came to his home to arrest him. At that time he was not there, and so he escaped arrest and decided to flee. His family is still in Myanmar (except for three sons who had already fled six years ago). The situation is very oppressive; the authorities take any opportunity to oppress the people. The people, even government servants, are forced to work half a day almost every Saturday doing jobs in Loikaw. He himself has been arrested three times. The first time, in 1964, he spent six months in Taunggyi prison. The second time, in 1983, he was sentenced to six months, but only spent 15 days in Loikaw prison, and was released after paying 10,000 kyat. The third time was in May 1995. He was kept in a tiny cell, usually for solitary confinement, with nine people for 45 days. The cell was almost totally dark, with the only light from a five watt bulb. They were given two bottles of dirty water each day for drinking. Some of the others had been there for four months, and all of them had been tortured. He was released when the authorities could find no evidence against him. Finally, one of his neighbours, a Karen, was returning from Toungoo with 10,000 kyat and some gold when he was taken as a porter. They put him on a military truck, then accused him of being a rebel, and shot him. The soldiers stole all his possessions. He was told this by two eye-witnesses.
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Ethnicity: |
Karenni |
100 |
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Age/sex: |
36, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with one son and one daughter | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Si Ko Leh, Shadaw township, Kayah State (whole village relocated by force to Shadaw on 7 June 1996) | |
(The witness gave his testimony in the presence of witnesses 101, 102, 103 and 104.)
The witness had to do forced labour before and after his relocation. He left Myanmar in February 1997 after escaping from prison. Before relocation he was a porter on one occasion in 1990, during the dry season, just after New Year. He was 27 then. He received the order from the village head. He had to carry rice rations in a mountainous region near Shadaw for three days. The distance covered was a total of 22 miles. He went to a military camp in the mountains (average size, one company). There were about 34 porters, including five people from his village, for 60 soldiers. There were no women, but children (13 to 15 years) and one old person (60). The day began at 4 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. The porters had to start before dawn and were not allowed to use electric torches. They were allowed a few minutes rest. The first night he slept in the forest and the following two nights he slept in villages. He did not see any fighting. He was not personally ill treated, but he saw other people beaten or struck with sticks, rifles or kicked because they could not carry the load they had been given. It was possible to pay a substitute. The amount necessary was around 300 to 400 kyat. The whole village was relocated on 7 June 1996. Apart from a little rice, he could not take anything with him. He went to a site near a military camp at Shadaw. He had to build a shelter for his family as there was nothing on the site. He did not see anyone ill- treated. The authorities suspected him of belonging to the rebels. He was arrested a few days after his arrival. He was kept in prison for six months. He was tortured, mainly through his hands being tied to the ceiling and his feet bound for long periods of time. During the month when he was not in prison, he had to do various types of work for the military. All the families were subject to forced labour. They could not do anything else. After relocation, he had to build fencing and cut wood. He had to work on four occasions, once a week during the month when he was not in prison. The village head gave him his work assignment. The day normally started at 6 a.m. and finished at 4 p.m. About 30 to 60 people were working with him, including five to ten women who had to do the same work. He was not paid. It was not possible to refuse. In the event of refusal, the authorities deprived them of the small amount of rice which was distributed.