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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 |
181-205 |
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
181 |
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Age/sex: |
15, male | |
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Family situation: |
Five (him, parents and two brothers; sisters have left home) | |
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Occupation: |
His father has farm land (palm trees, mangoes, chestnuts) | |
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From: |
Paw Baw Ko (near Nabu), Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 100 families) | |
The witness escaped from his village in early February 1998. There was a military camp 500 metres from the village, and another on top of a nearby hill. His brother lost a leg about a month ago, after stepping on a land mine near his village while he was cutting bamboo for the military. He was hospitalized in Myawady hospital. The military said that it was not one of their land mines. He feared the presence of the military in his village. He had to do portering for the military, work related to a military camp, and road construction work. One person from each household had to perform the work required by the military. While he was doing such work himself, other members of his family were not required to do so. His mother did some work for the military until he was old enough to take over. His father performed such work on countless occasions, particularly portering. His brothers and sisters also had to work for the military. His sisters did it when their husbands were away. Since his parents had to provide for the needs of the family, and could not afford to lose a day's work, they had to send their children most of the time. It was the village head who transmitted the orders from the military. It was possible to pay in order to be exempted from the work which had to be carried out. Workers were not paid. Most of the time they had to bring their own food, since no food was provided or, when it was, the quantities were not sufficient. He shared the work of portering with his older brother. Because he was so young, his older brother had to work more often than he did. The last time they had to do portering for the military was during the last harvest. That assignment lasted three days and two nights. He had to walk from his village to Tiwablaw and Tilawthi (over the Dawna mountains). Portering was done in the forest and over varied terrain. He was given a portion of stale rice. He worked with three to five porters for 30 to 40 soldiers. He had to carry food, ammunition and pots for cooking. When he was unable to carry the load that had been assigned to him, the soldiers would shout at him and force him to carry on. He had also been beaten and did not receive any medical treatment. He had to work for the military camp five days prior to this departure. He worked at that camp for the first time when he was only 13 years old. The work consisted of building fences, digging ditches, carrying water for the camp, and installing bamboo spikes which he had previously cut. He also worked on the construction of the camp. He had to alternate between three days of work and three days of rest. Previously, it had been his parents who did the work exacted by the military. Now, he shared this burden with his brother. All boys over 12 years old in the village had to perform work for the military. He was not paid but he could not refuse to work since he feared being beaten. He had been beaten on two occasions by the military. The military would shout at the children when they did not perform the work satisfactorily. Children were not entitled to any rest and had to work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. They had to bring their own food, but were allowed to go home for the night. On countless occasions he had also worked on the construction of two roads leading to Kawkareik. He had to do that until the road was finished. About 40 people worked with him. Girls were not required to work in the military camp, but had to work on road construction by cutting bushes in order to make the road wider.
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Age/sex: |
13, male |
182 |
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Ethnicity: |
Karen | |
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Family situation: |
Three (parents and him; no siblings) | |
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Education: |
1st Standard | |
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Occupation: |
His father farmed mangoes until the military built a camp on the land | |
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From: |
Paw Baw Ko (near Nabu), Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 100 families) | |
(The witness heard witness 181's statement and agreed with it.)
The witness left Myanmar in mid-February 1998. At his parents' request, he stopped going to school because they needed him to carry out the work required by the military. As they had to provide for the family's needs, they could not afford to miss a day's work and so sent their only son instead to do the unpaid work. He had to work for the military for the first time at the age of nine, four years ago. The order was transmitted by the village head. In particular, he had to carry water to the camp and cut down the bushes growing along the roadside. He had to work for two days, rest the same number of days, then carry on working to the same schedule. He could not refuse to work. If he was tired, his friends helped him with the work. He did not have to do portering, but the military used him twice to detect mines hidden around the village. His father's brother also worked for the military, including portering.
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
183 |
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Age/sex: |
13, male | |
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Family situation: |
Five (him, parents, older brother and sister) | |
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Education: |
None | |
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From: |
Paw Baw Ko (near Nabu), Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 100 families) | |
(The witness heard witness 181's statement and agreed with it.)
The witness left Myanmar in mid-February 1998. In Myanmar, his parents did not allow him to go to school because they needed him to do the work exacted by the military. He therefore worked for the military camp, carrying water, putting up fences and digging ditches. He worked for the first time at the age of nine, four years ago. The orders from the military on work to be done were transmitted by the village head. He had to work for one day, rest one day, then work again following the same schedule. He did not do any portering. However his father had done it on several occasions, each assignment lasting about three days. His mother had not done forced labour. His sister had worked on the building of a road. She went to the site in the morning and came home in the evening. None of the work was paid. Finally, on six occasions, he was requisitioned by the military to find mines hidden around the village.
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
184 |
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Family situation: |
Married with three children | |
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Age/sex: |
48, male | |
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Education: |
6th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer (rented his land). In 1996-1997, he became assistant village head, a position he had already held for one year in 1993. | |
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From: |
Htee Talay, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 174 families and was divided into four sections) | |
The witness left Myanmar in May 1997 because he did not want to work for the military any longer. Having been a village leader he had to contact people who had to work for the military, mainly to build roads, clear the forest, harvest or do portering. A written order from the military was generally transmitted to the village head. One person per family had to work in accordance with a pre-established rota. No work was paid. It was possible to engage a substitute: 140 kyat per day for assignments other than portering. The cost of a replacement for portering was 500 kyat. It was possible to pay the village head who would then find a replacement. He had to ask the villagers to work because the military would have forced them to do so in any case. The villagers had to work for the military for more days than for their own work. For portering a family had to provide one person three times a month, each assignment lasting five days. Only the men did that work. They had to carry ammunition, shells and food. The number of porters depended on the number of soldiers to be serviced. The porters had to stay with the soldiers even in battle, to supply them with ammunition. A porter from his village was killed during a fight with the Karen National Union (KNU). The porters were subjected to ill treatment if they could not keep up with the pace of the march, and were beaten and struck by the soldiers. In cases where porters were ill or injured, they were not given any medical treatment or medicines. The villagers also had to work for the military detecting mines hidden in the area around their village. The work was carried out three times in 1996, and the same number of times in 1997. Work was also organized to build the road from Kawkareik to Hpa-an (through Kyawywa), three miles away from his village. The work had to be done throughout the year, five times a month. Both men and women had to work on it. Each assignment lasted three days, including three nights. The workers had to sleep near the work site and had to bring their own food. They could not refuse for fear of reprisals by the soldiers. He organized the work on building the Nabu military camp in 1995 and 1996. Forty to fifty people worked at the same time and were replaced by the same number of people according to a pre-established rota. The work consisted mainly of cutting down trees, clearing the ground (even if that meant cutting down trees on farm land), collecting bamboo and wood. The workers also had to prepare roofing. The workers had to carry materials and carry out the related work. Both men and women had to do this work. Work began at 6 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m. The soldiers shouted at the workers when they thought the work was not going satisfactorily. He did not see any workers ill treated, but he had heard stories of women being raped at the work site. He also had to organize harvest work. Personally, he had to work on road building in 1991 (on one occasion for 15 days), 1992 (on one occasion for 15 days), 1993 (on one occasion) and several times in 1996, when he was assistant village head. The soldiers often shouted at them. However, he had not been subjected to ill treatment. He also had to do work related to the Nabu military camp.
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Religion: |
Muslim |
185 |
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Age/sex: |
16, female | |
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Family situation: |
She lived with her widowed mother, elder sister, and two nephews | |
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Education: |
3rd Standard | |
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From: |
Dawlan, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 150 households) | |
The witness left Myanmar in January 1998. Her village comprised 150 households, at present only one, two or three houses remained. Since September 1997, the authorities announced the village had to be relocated because an army camp was to be set up in its place. No location was indicated for the inhabitants (Muslim, Mon, Burman, Karen) to go to. The people were forced to move. Some went over the border to refugee camps, some (Muslim) wanted to stay, but with the KNU fighting in the village, the authorities did not allow anyone to stay, and there was a lot of shooting. In January, they burned down the village and when villagers tried to come over the border the Myanmar army stopped people to check their identity cards. The Muslims had no identity cards, although they had been promised them already three times by the authorities, which had come and taken photos and data (before September 1997). But the Muslims and Karens never received identity cards. She and her family spoke to soldiers and crossed the check point. Actually, no military base was being set up at the site of the village, which was merely close to an existing base and therefore removed. For her household, she had to go from the age of ten to do forced labour, because her elder sister was not healthy. She did men's work, making a fence around the army base, surfacing the road. The military stayed with sticks behind the people, yelled at them and beat them when they did not work. She saw many men being beaten by soldiers and when she was younger, up to the age of 13, she was beaten herself. Now she was afraid of that, so she always worked. Every month, she had to go for 20 to 25 days. From the age of ten, she had to go to the army base, building houses for the soldiers, digging and carrying mud to make the floors; she also had to help make a fence, carrying bamboo, and doing whatever work the soldiers wanted, such as digging a bunkers and trenches, cooking every morning. In the dry season, she had to carry water. Even if sick, she had to work, was not allowed to be free. By order handed down through the village head, all 150 households in the village had to contribute every month ten days of regular work for the army camp. In her family, she had to go for 20 to 25 days, in part (ten days) as regular work for the army base; the remainder was because her family could not pay for porters fees, over 1,000 kyat every month. When they told the village head they could not pay, the soldiers came to the house, pointed a gun at them, so that she feared for her life, then told her to work at the army camp. Thus, they came every month when the family could not pay the porter fees. In her family, one person (herself) worked all the time for the army. She did not work as a porter. With regard to sexual abuse, when single women were sent to the army camp, soldiers did to them what they wanted, afterwards they either married or paid them; the women were very shy to talk. The villagers could not do anything about it. When she did work at the army camp, every evening her mother went there and fetched her back home. When she was 13 or 14 years old, she also had to work surfacing a car road from one army base to another. It was always for 15 days, people had to take food with them and sleep beside the road. The frequency of the call up was not regular, it depended on the road situation; in the dry season, it was more often, sometimes once per month or every two months. They had to cut trees, place the trunks on either side of the road, carry soil and fill the space between the trunks. In rainy season, girls had to transport ammunition and guns ten days a month, paddling a canoe; men had to carry them over land. Every rainy season, the village was flooded, the water almost covered the houses, but people still had to pay porter fees and transport ammunition and guns in canoes (dugout or made of planks, for three to four people, two girls paddled - one in front, one at the back). These three types of work filled the year for her. In addition, there were the following minor jobs. First, the villagers had to pay 20 kyat per month (per household) for the soldiers' wash, then the army paid someone to do their laundry (single women). She worked twice because her family could not pay the 20 kyat. Second, every day, every family had to carry a bundle of firewood, a tin of rice and 10 kyat to the army. She collected and carried the firewood. Third, every day four families (out of 150) had to supply one person to watch for strangers outside the village, two in front and two at the back of the army base. Her family could not stand watch because they had too much other work to do, so about once a month, when it was their turn, they paid 100 kyat to someone else to go. She decided in the end that she could not stay in the village because she was overloaded with work. That is the reason why she left.
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Ethnicity/religion: |
Karen, Buddhist |
186 |
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Age/sex: |
16, female | |
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Family situation: |
Seven (her, her parents, two elder and two younger siblings) | |
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Education: |
6th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Farmers | |
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From: |
Htee Talay, Kawkareik township, Kayin State | |
The witness's family came to Thailand in December 1997 because they could not cope anymore with the quantity of forced labour and portering. She had done forced labour herself since the age of 15, causing her to drop out of school. At age 15, she worked for six months on the tar road from Nabu to Kyondo, from the start of rainy season (June to July 1996) until the end of the cold season (January 1997). One person per household had to go. There were people from other sections, villages, towns too, altogether over 4,000 people at the same time. The authorities had given the list of people: so many from this village, etc. When the soldiers were eating, they put the list on the table and she looked and her name was also on the list. The presence of all workers was checked three times a day, in the morning, early afternoon and evening. The evening check was very strict. Because her family could not pay 300 kyat per day for the road, she had to drop out of school and go and work on the road for six months. She had to eat and sleep at the work site because the road was far from home. At night they were not allowed back home. They had to work from early morning till evening, then had to cook when it was already dark. There was no shelter, she had to sleep under a tree. Every month her family sent her the necessary rice, fish paste, ajinomoto (monosodium glutamate). In the six months, she once was sick with headache and fever. She received no medication from the soldiers but was allowed to go home (one-and-a-half hours walk on foot) for two days. For these two days, the family had to pay 200 kyat. Then the army came and took her back. At the work site, some people cut trees, some dug mud, some carried stones and some carried tar. She carried tar and cut trees up to 20 cm across. Soldiers only watched the people work and yelled when they stopped. She saw many people being beaten for being lazy. Especially in the dry season when it was very hot, people could not work and stopped, so the soldiers beat them and asked the village head to pay a fine of 200 kyat per day for the delay at work. She herself was beaten once by a soldier, and yelled at many times. She was beaten because she was sick and wanted to quit, a soldier told her to see the colonel, who was not there, so she could not get permission, and when she sat on the side of the road a soldier saw her and beat her. On that occasion, she could not go home and had to continue working. She had fever, she doesn't know why, maybe from the heat, working under the sun. In addition, by order from the military, handed down through the village head, in March 1997, one person from each household, including the witness, had to work for one month for the army base at Two-Elephant village (Sin Hna-kaun). About 300 people were working there. They had to clear and prepare the ground and plant rubber trees. When the planting was finished, the army took the plants. She did not know who received the profit. The place was remote from the water and she was very thirsty. The place was two miles away from her house, but she was not allowed home at night for the whole month, she had to sleep anywhere, had to bring her own food, and was not paid for the work. The soldiers were always there, watching. The treatment was the same as for surfacing the road, but she was not beaten, since she worked all the time. Attendance was checked every day two or three times. In April 1997, by order handed down through the village head, one person per household, including herself, had to go for one day to Sin Hna-kaun army base to carry tree trunks, logs, for the base. After April 1997, at the beginning of the rainy season, one person per household (including herself) had to work for a full month carrying paddy seed for an army field and planting it. The place was four hours away from witness's home near Nabu hill. She had to take her own food and everything with her, and carry the seed, 24 to 32 tins (about 4 kg). This was the villagers' seed. They were given no shelter, but had to find it themselves. The treatment was the same as before.
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Ethnicity/religion: |
Karen, Buddhist |
187 |
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Age/sex: |
20, male | |
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Family situation: |
Her, her parents and four siblings | |
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Education: |
5th Standard | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Htee Talay, Kawkareik township, Kayin State | |
The witness left Myanmar for the first time at the age of 17 and for the last time in October 1997. He had to drop out of school at age 14 because of forced labour - he could not go to school when working; also, they had to pay school fees, about 200 to 300 kyat per month at primary level (from 1st to 4th Standard), about 600 kyat at upper levels. He continued to do forced labour until age 17, for about six months out of eight months in the cold season, surfacing roads, building military camps, also portering, and for two months out of three in the rainy season, working on army paddy fields. He could not stand it anymore, if he had to stayed in the village he would still have been doing forced labour. He first came to Thailand at age 17, and since then he had crossed the border many times, avoiding forced labour. At age 14, he worked on a rock road, four hours walk from the village, and for the next two years on two other roads, only during the cold season. Sometimes he had to go every week, sometimes for a full two weeks, and sometimes for a whole month. The order came from the army base to the village head, requiring one person from each family. He was never paid any money for doing forced labour. He had to bring his own food. If people could not work, they paid a fee of 500 to 600 kyat per day to the soldiers (at the time he was working). He saw a woman from his village who worked on the road and went to take a shower at the well in the evening being followed by a soldier and raped. He did not know the soldier, who was not punished. The woman tried to complain to the village head, but the village head did not dare talk to soldiers. He did not see other abuses while road building, nobody was hit. In addition, From age 15 to 17, he had to go two or three times a year as a porter, carrying food, rice, ammunition, sometimes for five days (once 20 miles in five days non stop walking), sometimes for two weeks or more. The order came first to the village head, and if he could not collect the number of porters requested, the army came and took the people themselves. They were never told before for how long they were to be porters. If it took too long, the village had to collect the rice to feed the porters and send it to them. They never got money for portering, but the family paid sometimes 200 to 300 kyat to the army to find someone else for portering. It depended on how many porters the army wanted. That is what they paid when he was between 15 and 17 years old. He didn't know what the payment was now. At age 16, he contracted malaria after 17 days of portering, carrying 10 viss (about 16 kg) of rice and ammunition uphill. He received no treatment and had to continue carrying his load, even though sick; he was afraid to be killed if he did not continue. He saw other people being killed, among these, ten people who were hit by shells when there was fighting, because porters always had to be in front of the soldiers. They were not tied. Two or three were killed while there was no fighting, they were hit with a gun at various places on their bodies. Those were from other villages. He had heard about, but had not seen, women porters being raped. Finally, he had to go about 15 times a year for two to three days each time to clear the ground around the army base, make trenches, empty the old toilet, dig and build a new toilet. In the rainy season he had to take a cow and tools to army paddy fields and plough and work there for two months; he had to carry only his own food, but not the seeds.
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Ethnicity/religion: |
Karen, Buddhist |
188 |
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Age/sex: |
49, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with five children | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Htee Talay, Kawkareik township, Kayin State | |
In the last five or six years, most forced labour which his family had to do, including portering, was done by his son and daughter. His personal experiences over the same period were limited to the following. Four years ago, in the cold season, he was travelling on a bus from Kawkareik to Thingannyinaung village, where soldiers from IB 44 stopped the bus, took all male passengers and sent them on an army truck, tied in pairs with a nylon rope, to Mepale on the front line with the KNU. The next day, each of them was given eight viss of rice to carry to the top of a mountain, where the battalion was based. After that, they had to carry the rice going around the Kawkareik area with an army column for 28 days, when the group of people to which he belonged was released (another group was not). In his group of 75 people, four died (he could not see for the other group). He saw many people who had been porters for many months, not released back home, ill and weak. They were beaten because they were weak, not given water. He did not see anybody being killed, but many beaten. Some people died from diseases, they gave only one tablet of some medicine, only once. He saw his cousin, who also had been arrested, die from diarrhea; they gave him some medicine, but he had to carry on the day he died; he was very tired in the evening, settled down, and the next morning he was dead. For five days in 1997, he replaced his daughter planting rubber trees for the army. He had to pay porter fees, road fees, give paddy seeds and rubber plants, and either pay or send a person (with a cow) to plant paddy and watch the village. The porter fees were about 600 kyat every month, to be paid to the authorities if his family did not want to do portering. The road-building fees were 100 kyat a day if they did not work until the road was finished. For the paddy seeds and rubber plants, the family's contribution depended on how much the army requested from the village. In 1997, it was 64 (small) tins of rice, plus 3,000 rubber plants for the village; he bought 50 rubber plants at 25 kyat each, totalling 1,250 kyat; after the purchase, they also had to do the planting. The army kept the proceeds.
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Occupation: |
Medic |
189 |
The witness worked as a medic in Thailand. He had seen many former porters from Myanmar with scars from excessively heavy loads while portering. When there was fighting on the border, there was more portering. Every month, he saw new people with scars from portering. Also, he had first-hand information from Myawady hospital (in Myanmar) that every month six to seven civilian injuries from land mines, who all appeared to be porters, marked by scars from carrying excessively heavy loads, had to be turned away because priority was to be given to the army, and civilians had to pay for everything in hospital, even gloves and alcohol for the nurses. Usually they died from the mine injury becoming infected.
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
190 |
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Age/sex: |
43, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married with four children (aged between three and 17) | |
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From: |
Kawsaing, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 260 families) | |
Since February 1997, villagers had been working without rest for the military. In February, hundreds of soldiers arrived in the village and took most of the villagers' livestock and property. In March, soldiers (from LIB 547) ordered the villagers to clear the ground for their new camp. Villagers had to cut down trees and bamboo, level the ground, construct buildings and barracks, build fences, dig trenches and build bunkers around the compound. Villagers worked on the new camp until the end of May. She personally had to work four days per month at the camp. She also sent her daughter, who was 17 years old. They were not paid, and had to bring their own supplies and equipment. In April, the villagers were ordered by LIB 547 to build a new primary school. They had to clear and level the ground until the end of May. This work had to be done simultaneously with the camp work. Two teachers were sent from town and the village had to hire one teacher. Students had to pay to attend classes. Fifteen to 45 kyat per month plus two baskets (one basket was 21 kg) of unhusked rice per year. She had to work ten days per month. If a person failed to work, he or she had to hire a substitute at 300 kyat a day. During the rainy season her daughter was called as a porter three or four times. She or her eldest daughter were called at least twice a month by the camp to cook, to clean the compound and so on. She also had to carry messages and collect vegetables. Her husband was in poor health, and their betel nuts were picked by the soldiers in October 1997. She then had to sell the nuts and give the money to the soldiers. They were afraid to complain, and had nothing left. They decided to leave the village in October 1997.
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
191 |
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Age/sex: |
17, female | |
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Family situation: |
Single | |
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From: |
Kawsaing, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 260 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar in October 1997. In March and April 1997, she had to work doing construction for at least 20 days each month. She also served as a porter four times in 1997 (all portering was done in Kayin State). She portered from Kawsaing to Yauk Kaya (a two-hour trip) carrying a tripod (stand for a mortar); from Kawsaing to Lampha; from Kawsaing to Peinnwegon; and from Kawsaing to Kyeikywa. Soldiers made her carry their bags on the way and they themselves carried only guns and equipment. Women occasionally had to serve as porters especially on short trips. She saw old women, mothers with children, girls and pregnant women serving in this capacity. They had to bring their own food and supplies.
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
192 |
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Age/sex: |
35, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with three children (five to 12 years old) | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Kawsaing, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 260 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar in 1997. During the 1997 hot season, he had to build a military camp and a school. He also had to serve as porter a countless number of times during the 1997 rainy season since carts could not be used on damaged roads. He had to travel to Ason, Kyeikywa, Kwiko and Thaung Pyaung villages. He had to carry ammunition, rice and supplies. The rice sack weighed 22 kg. He was badly treated on one occasion on a trip to Kyeikywa in July 1997. He was kicked and beaten because he was late after losing his way due to heavy rain. No medical treatment was provided to sick porters. On another occasion in October 1997, the village head and four villagers were beaten as a reprisal for the death of a captain in an ambush near to his village. In 1997, he also had to clear the ground between Kawkareik and Kyeikdon so to prepare it for a road to be built. He had to work there six times, twice for seven days and four times for three days. He was ordered by LIB 547 and LIB 548. While villagers had to cut trees, the soldiers would bring the logs to the villages and towns and sell them. He decided to leave Myanmar at the end of 1997 since he was not able to work anymore on his farm.
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Age: |
58, male |
193 |
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Family situation: |
Married with eight children | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer | |
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From: |
Kawsaing, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 260 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar because he could not live alongside the military anymore. He was shot by the military one month ago while returning from his fields. He did not know the reason why. He served two times as porter in 1997. The first was in July between Kawaw and Kyeikdon. It was a one-day trip and he had to carry ammunition. The second was 15 days after the first trip. He had to go to Kawkareik. It was a seven day trip. He had to sleep in the rain for six days. Soldiers were under plastic shelters. The porters were tied up with ropes (hands and legs) so as to prevent their escape. He was beaten on one occasion when, one night, he got up to go to the toilet. One of his relatives died, shot after a portering journey. At the beginning of 1997, soldiers started to arrive in his village and requested the villagers to build their camp. They had to, among other things, clear the ground, cut trees and erect buildings. He personally had to work on this assignment for two months. He saw one villager beaten to death with an iron bar because he was not able to climb a tree as ordered by a soldier. The witness tried to escape with 30 others but failed to do so. They were ordered not to repeat what had happened and threatened with murder if they did not comply. Villagers were hurt also while working on the camp site. No medical assistance was provided.
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Ethnicity: |
Karen |
194 |
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Age/sex: |
62, female | |
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Family situation: |
Married | |
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From: |
Antwe, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 32 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar in November 1997. She was appointed as village head in March 1997 and served in this capacity for three months. The military requested her to organise the work of the villagers so as to construct their camp in Hlawlay. She divided the families into two groups which had to work on a rotational basis. She personally had to work with the other villagers and believed that the toughest work which she had to perform was to cut and carry bamboos from her village to the camp, on a two-mile distance. During the 1997 rainy season, her village was relocated to Hlawlay together with Klaw Chaw, Thawaw Thaw, Po Kaw and No Po Khee. She had to move to Hlawlay in June 1997. There she had to build fences. In November 1997, the military ordered the villagers to give two thirds of their rice crops to the army camp. Her husband served as a porter five times in 1997. He was beaten when he was too slow and was given rotten rice as food ration.
|
Age/sex: |
35, male |
195 |
|
Family situation: |
Married with four children | |
|
From: |
Mikathut, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (lived in Antwe village prior to leaving Myanmar) | |
The witness left Myanmar in November 1997. In March 1997, he had to build a new military camp, a military warehouse and a football field for the soldiers. He also had to lay fences and dig bamboo traps around the military compound. He also served twice as a porter. The first trip was just before the 1997 Water Festival (early April). He had to go to Kwilo on a three-day journey. On this occasion, he had to carry a rice supply which weighed 25 kg. The second assignment was for nine days in May 1997 when he had to accompany troops from Division 101 returning to Kawkareik. He had to carry weights of at least 40 kg.
|
Age/sex: |
43, male |
196 |
|
Family situation: |
Married with six children | |
|
From: |
Aunghlaing, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 100 families) | |
The military built an army camp in his village in March 1997. He personally had to, among other things, cut trees, build buildings, dig ditches and lay fences. He worked on this assignment for two months. Children of ten years of age would come also and cut down small branches. In order to be exempted from the work, it was necessary to pay to the soldiers 200 kyat and a chicken for each working day missed. During the rainy season, he served as a porter twice a month. He was also ordered to work two days a month for the military camp performing all light duties ordered by the military. Two people died and two others were wounded when Karen soldiers opened fire on the camp at the end of July 1997. He was requested with three other persons to carry the wounded to Kawkareik. Eight soldiers accompanied them. Since the journey was long and the people to be carried heavy, they asked for additional porters. The military authorised only four additional men. They arrived late at night. The next day, the village head was severely beaten and villagers were requested to pay 35,000 kyat because they failed to inform the military of a KNU ambush.
|
Age/sex: |
50, male |
197 |
|
From: |
Peinnwe, Kawkareik township, Kayin State (village had 100 families) | |
The witness left Myanmar at the end of 1997. During the 1997 hot season, he had to work on the army camp which was being built in his village. During the 1997 rainy season, he served as a porter and had to carry supplies for the military in this capacity.
|
Ethnicity: |
Mon |
198 |
|
Age/sex: |
18, female | |
|
Family situation: |
Three (her, husband, one child aged 14 months); she had four siblings | |
|
From: |
Taung Khun, Yebu township, Tanintharyi Division (village had 40 households) | |
The witness arrived in the Mon refugee camp in January 1998. She married three years ago. Her parents came to the refugee camp before her. She did forced labour on railway construction, on the Natkyizin section of the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway. She started to do that work again about seven months before arriving in the camp (this was during the rainy season), after a break to have her baby. She had to do work on the railway until she was 5 months pregnant, then she rested until the baby was five months old. During the period while she was resting, she had to pay a substitute to go in her place on three occasions (each time she had to pay the substitute 1,000 kyat and food for 15 days). The orders for work on the railway were given by the army to the village head, who then instructed the villagers; the soldiers also demanded porters in the same way, as well as food and alcohol on a regular basis. The village was divided into two sections for the purpose of arranging the work. One person from each house would have to go from each section in turn for a period of two weeks, by rotation (i.e. 20 people at a time). The villagers had to walk for over one hour to reach the work site. They had to take their own rice, salt and fish paste, as well as money to buy vegetables at the work site. There were some small shops at the work site which were set up by soldiers' wives (with prices slightly higher than normal). Her household had to do seven such rotations of forced labour. Of these, she went four times (3 times before and during her pregnancy, once after having her child), and her husband three times. She had to go more often, because her husband was often away portering when it was their household's turn to do forced labour. There was a labour camp at the work site, and the villagers had to stay there during their two-week work period. The work they had to do was collecting rocks and breaking them into chippings using a small hammer. This was very hard work. They had to work from 6 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., with a break from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. They had to work in the rainy season as well. The soldiers stood on the embankment and supervised and guarded the labourers. They beat and shouted at people who were working slowly. She often saw people beaten and kicked by the soldiers (at least three times in a two week period). When she went back to work after having her baby, she had to bring the baby to the work site. While she was working during the day, she had to leave the baby unattended at the camp. She was able to arrange with the other villagers that she worked at a place which was close to the camp, so that she could keep an eye out for her baby while she was working. She fed the baby before starting work in the morning, then had to ask permission from the soldiers to feed it during the morning. She was only allowed one break in the morning to feed the baby, and one break in the afternoon. There were other women from her village with babies at the work site, but their babies were older so they had less of a problem, since they could put their babies beside them while they worked. About seven or eight of the people from her village were women, most of whom had to bring children with them to the work site. There were four or five children under five from her village at the work site. People from other villages were also working on the railway, but each village had to work on a different point on the railway. The camp where she worked had only people from her village, but there was another camp nearby with about 100 villagers from another village. The youngest person she saw working was about 14, and the oldest over 50. If workers became sick they received no medicine (if they had money, they could buy some medicines at the small shops). When her baby was sick, she could get no medicine. Her husband had to go for portering ever since they were married three years ago. This was the same time that she and her husband first had to do forced labour. The soldiers usually asked for ten porters from her village at a time, but sometimes as many as 15. The soldiers asked for porters about three times a month, and usually took porters for a period of about seven days. Because her husband was often doing portering and she was doing forced labour, she hardly ever saw him. Three days after they got married, her husband had to go and do forced labour on the railway. Her husband had no regular income. He worked on his father's farm, for which his father fed their family. Because she had to do hard physical work while nursing, she did not have enough milk. As a result the baby became malnourished, and also developed epilepsy, she said it was because of the shock of having to stay in very bad conditions without care at the work site. Since arriving at the Mon refugee camp she had been able to send the baby to hospital and take a rest herself, so it was better. Her husband did not leave the village with her, and she still did not know where he was. She last saw him five days before she left her village. He was taken for portering by LIB 409, together with five other villagers. They were told they were going to Mae Than Taung village near Kanbauk, so he did not take much food. After three days, however, none of the villagers had returned, and she heard that her husband had been sent to Kanbauk by the military. She decided to leave, because in the absence of her husband, it would be impossible for her and her child to survive; all the forced labour would fall on her. She still had no news from him, and did not know if he was still alive. It was difficult to leave her village, because the troops had given an order preventing people from travelling, because they were worried people would try to flee forced labour. She managed to go to Yah Pu village, however, and there she met someone from the Mon camp buying vegetables, and went to the camp with him. Her parents had already been at the camp for two years. She had also experienced forced relocation. In February 1997 her village, along with two others, was forced to relocate on three days' notice by LIB 409. The villagers were told that anyone who did not relocate would be shot. No specific relocation site was provided, and the villagers moved to nearby villages such as Kywe Thone Nyi Ma and Kyauktaya (the nearest being two hours' walk away). About three months later, in June when the rains started, the villagers tried to move back to their area because they had farms there. They were allowed to return to their village, but under strict curfew. If they wanted to go outside the village to tend their farms, they had to pay 20 kyat, and had to return by evening. If a person was found outside the village without permission, they would be fined 1,000 kyat and beaten with a rattan cane. This happened to people who came to the village from other villages, and who therefore were not aware of the curfew rules. The soldiers were always in the village, and stayed in houses in the village when they were there. There was a military camp at Chaungphya, about a one hour walk away. This camp had been built by the villagers about four months ago, who also had to provide the wood and bamboo for the construction. Each woman had to cut 50 bamboo poles, and 100 saplings to make the fence, and each man had to cut 100 bamboo poles and 200 saplings. This would take three to four days for a person to cut. During the actual construction of the camp, workers had their hat, knife and food taken from them during rest times, so that they could not run away. Also, at least two villagers had to be permanently outside the village as sentries. Sometimes the soldiers came to check, and if the sentries were asleep the soldiers would fine them 1 viss (1.6 kg) of chicken.
|
Ethnicity: |
Mon |
199 |
|
Age/sex: |
56, female | |
|
Family situation: |
Six (husband, two sons, one daughter-in-law, one grandson) | |
|
From: |
Sein Suay, Mintha village-tract, Yebyu township, Tanintharyi Division (previously lived in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma) | |
The witness arrived in the Mon refugee camp in January 1998. She had to do forced labour collecting rocks for the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway construction. She first had to do this work three years ago; she did it many times in this period, for about two weeks each time. The village was divided into two or three groups (depending on the number of workers required at one time), with workers from each household going from each of the groups in turn. Workers would get less than one month rest between periods of forced labour. The village head had drawn up a list of all able-bodied people in the village, and when it was a household's turn to do forced labour, only one worker could stay behind to work for the family. Thus, if there were four workers in a house, three would have to go for forced labour when it was the turn of that house. In her household, the worker who stayed behind varied by rotation. The workers in each household were given a number, and when that number was called by the village head to go for forced labour, the person had to go or send someone else in their place. In her household, herself and her sons were on the list, but her husband was lame because of polio, and so was not on the list. Recently, the army deceived the villagers by telling them that they would be paid for work on the railway, but when they had finished the work they received no payment. When she first started to do forced labour on the railway she lived in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma. At that time the work was digging and carrying mud to build the embankment. She continued to do this work after she went to Sein Suay. There the villagers had to collect and crush rocks. The work site was about one hour's walk from the village, so she used to go back to the village to sleep at night. She left the village at 5 a.m. to start work at 6 a.m. They were allowed to rest from 11.30 to 12 noon, then they had to work again until 6 p.m., so she got back to her village at about 7 p.m. According to arrangements made by the village head, women had to work during the day (from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.), and the men had to work from 6 p.m. to midnight. This was done so that the men would have time during the day to do their normal work. Also, the village was afraid of abuse of the women by the military if they had to work at night. Even so, there were problems with the arrangement because when the men were away during the evening, the soldiers would steal animals from the village. Some women were also raped at this time, and some were then taken by force to live with the soldiers. She knows of five women who were raped in this way, two of whom were then taken by force to live with the soldiers. This happened two or three months ago. The two women never came back. The work was very tiring. She had always had good health, but since last year she suffered a chronic cough and had difficulty breathing. She thought this was due to carrying heavy loads of stones on her head for long periods without rest. During the work, men were often beaten by the soldiers. Women were usually just sworn at. On one occasion while her son was doing forced labour, he was ordered to get alcohol for the soldiers. He arrived back late from going to get the alcohol, and so was beaten. The village head was ordered to fetch a stick, then her son was beaten with it until it broke. He was badly injured, and had to have medical treatment consisting of ten injections. He was left with scars all over his body. She saw two other people beaten during forced labour. The two were having an argument among themselves, so the soldiers beat them with a stick, then made them do ten "laps" of frog-jumps (with their hands behind their heads), each "lap" about 20 metres. This was the standard punishment for people who the soldiers thought were not working properly. On one occasion she saw an elderly man forced to do this punishment. The villagers also had to do portering. At all times, two porters from the village were required to do work at the army camp at Eindayaza. This had been going on for one year. People went for a period of two weeks, and were then replaced. Her son did this twice, for two weeks each time. He was not beaten while doing this work. Last year people were forced to build an army camp at Siu Ku village near Kaleinaung. Fifteen people from each village in the area were required to go, and each village was responsible for constructing one building. The camp was two days' walk from their village, and the villagers had to work for seven-day periods. People from her family went three times (her elder son went twice, her younger son went once). She fled from Kywe Thone Nyi Ma because of too much forced labour. The men worked as fishermen, but it was difficult for them to earn a living because of the forced labour. She had to sell her oxen, because they were often forced by the soldiers to be used for transporting stones and earth etc., and became lame from over-work. She had to leave her belongings behind. Many other people also fled at this time. When they arrived at the new village (Sein Suay), however, they found the situation was no better. In the end, one month ago, they fled to the camp. She came because her sons also left, and she was dependent on them. Her sons fled because they did not have enough time to work to support the family. She fled to the camp by pretending to be a dried fish seller at army checkpoints.
|
Ethnicity: |
Mon |
200 |
|
Age/sex: |
35, female | |
|
Family situation: |
Seven (her, husband, five children) | |
|
Occupation: |
Farmer (dry rice) | |
|
From: |
Paukpingwin, Yebyu township, Tanintharyi Division (village had 300 households) | |
The witness arrived in the Mon refugee camp at the end of 1997 (three months ago), from Paukpingwin, because they could not tolerate the amount of forced labour. She did forced labour collecting rocks for the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway construction. This work started two or three years ago; work restarted in September or October 1997 near the end of the rainy season. The orders to do this forced labour came from the military to the village head, who then instructed the villagers. One person per household had to go. She had to go herself because her husband was often away portering, or had to work in his fields (it was hard to make a living: last year, they had to live on only rice soup for a period of two months). She went a total of about 15 times, each time for a period of a month; her husband did not work on the railway, he only did portering and his own work. During the month at the work site, the workers got one day off every ten days. The work she had to do was breaking rocks with a hammer. When she worked, she left her children in the village (the youngest was two, the eldest ten). It was a two-hour walk from the village to the work site (they returned to their village each night). They had to leave their village at 6 a.m. and arrived back at the village at 8 p.m. They only had a half-hour break from work at noon. There was a total of about 300 villagers working together at the work site at any one time. The treatment of villagers at the work site was bad. She herself was kicked three times in the back by a soldier while working, because she was tired and could not work properly. She has seen other people treated badly, usually kicked and sometimes beaten with a rifle butt. Some people were badly injured in this way. Her uncle was severely beaten to the head with a rifle butt, and had to receive medical treatment for a month (no medical treatment provided by the authorities). The village doctor provided the services, and this was paid for by the village, but he had to repay this money. During this month his son had to go to work in his place, then after one month the uncle had to work again. It took him two months to fully recover. It was dangerous for the women when walking home at night, because of sexual abuse by the soldiers. This happened to two or three women from her village, including her sister, who was raped. The village head complained to the military commander, who encouraged the soldier to marry the girl, but the soldier refused on the grounds that the woman was Mon, and he was Burmese. The rape happened last September; her sister was 15. Her husband first did portering about five years ago. He went many times, usually about three times per year. The worst was in 1997, when he did portering three times for three months each time. In previous years he was usually away for about one month at a time. Some people can afford to hire substitutes to do portering for them, but her family could not. When her husband did portering she did not know where he went, or how long he would be away. Once he was beaten and came home with injuries. Other porters died during portering. Usually, five people were taken from the village as porters at one time. Her husband said that during portering he had to carry ammunition. He always came home thin and weak, and he often had injuries on his back and shoulders from carrying the loads. Over the last few years, she knows of ten porters from her village who died during portering. Five of these died in 1997. The villagers saw some of the dead bodies with wounds from being beaten. About 6 months ago, two women were also taken from her village as porters, and were raped and killed while portering. They were both about 16 years old and unmarried. It was difficult to survive if her husband was away portering and she was doing forced labour at the same time. It was particularly bad last year when her husband was away a lot, but the railway forced labour was less severe at this time because there were no soldiers guarding the workers. At such times, she often had to collect jungle vegetables for food, or borrow food from relatives. When her children were sick, she had to borrow money to buy herbal medicines. In her village, about 20-30 households were in a similar position to hers, with the man often away portering, and the woman doing forced labour. Some other households were able to hire substitute workers. It cost 1,000 kyat to hire a replacement porter, regardless of the length of time (this was because the military did not inform porters in advance how many days they would have to work). There was an army camp in her village which was built by the villagers starting three years ago. She herself had to do this work five times. She had to carry bamboo to be used for the construction. It was a large camp with a number of buildings, which was finished last rainy season. Forty villagers at a time were involved in this work, men and women. After the construction of the buildings, fences and trenches the work did not stop, because there was almost constant repair, renovation and extension. Five people per night were also required to be sentries. When it was the turn of her household to provide a sentry, her husband was away and so she would have had to do it, except that her cousin did it for her out of sympathy. The soldiers mistreated the villagers often. The soldiers also stayed without permission in villagers' houses at night, and they often abused the women at this time, when the men were away. She knows of ten such incidents since last rainy season. Usually the soldiers were in groups of two. Last rainy season, the area where she lived was flooded. At one point while she was at the work site, she had to spend one day and one night up a tree without food because of the floods. After a complaint from the villagers, the soldiers eventually made a bamboo raft and rescued her and some other villagers. One person had drowned. The flood destroyed the work camp and the embankment they had been building. Shortly before fleeing to the refugee camp her family had to complete a quota of eight kyin (one kyin = 100 cubic feet) of broken stones. Her husband was away portering, and when in October 1997 she did not complete the quota, the soldiers came and ripped down her house and took away the wood. After that she went to stay with another family in Aleh Sakhan village. There she was ordered to complete one kyin of stones, and after completing this she fled with her children to the refugee camp. It took her four days to walk to the camp. Her husband had not returned from portering, but he received the news and he also fled. Her husband arrived at the refugee camp two months after she did (one month ago). She had nine sisters. The five oldest, who had their own households, also had to do railway forced labour. Only two of them had husbands in the village. The husbands of the other three had gone to work in Thailand and they had lost contact with them for two years now. For these three life was very difficult. One of them left for the refugee camp before she did. The other four sisters had not yet married and live with her parents. She came to the refugee camp along with her family and four other families. She knew of 30 families who had left the village recently to escape constant forced labour which meant they did not have time to work for their own families.
|
Ethnicity: |
Mon |
201 |
|
Age/sex: |
48, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with six children | |
|
Occupation: |
Slash-and-burn farmer | |
|
From: |
Chaung Phya, Natkyizin village-tract, Yebyu township, Tanintharyi Division (village had 40 households) | |
The witness came to the Mon refugee camp at the end of 1997 (three months ago) to escape portering and forced labour which left him with no time to earn a living. Twenty people were taken from his village for 15 days at a time to do forced labour on construction of the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway. The work site was far from the village, so the villagers had to stay there for the work period. They had to arrange their own transport and food (they could not carry all necessary food with them and so had to take about 2,500 kyat to buy food at the work site). The work site was near Kaleinaung, and it took them more than one day to get there (with an overnight stop at Kanbauk). The work started three or four years ago, he thought it was 1993. His village was divided into two groups for the purpose of organising the forced labour. Villagers from each group had to go in rotation, so each group would work for 15 days, then have 15 days off, then work again for 15 days. The military chose a "group leader" from among the workers from a village, and he would be punished by being severely beaten if any of the labourers ran away. For this reason people did not want to be group leader and the group leaders often ran away, so the group leader changed often. He saw such punishments of group leaders many times. A group leader from his village was severely punched and kicked when some labourers ran away. The man had to provide replacement workers, and soon after this ran away himself. The work they had to do was digging mud to level the ground. The work site was a one hour walk from the camp where they stayed. The workers had to draw lots to decide which person did which section. They had to work from 6 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., with a break of 90 minutes in the middle of the day. If they finished their day's assignment before 5.30, they would be given other work to do, so they made their given assignments last the whole day. The hardest work was building the embankment and collecting rocks. Men and women (even pregnant women in other groups, though not in his group) did this work. The oldest workers were about 60, and the youngest 15 or 16. Some women brought their children with them to the work sites. Some workers secretly took a rest during work. If the soldiers found where they were hiding, they would beat them. He was the only person from his family who went, because the only child who was old enough to go was a daughter, and he did not want her to go. His wife had to look after the children. Sometimes they had to sell property or borrow money to make ends meet until the rice harvest. There was an army camp at his village, which had been constructed with forced labour from the villagers. The camp was built around the same time that the railway forced labour started. His village had to build the camp using materials provided by a number of villages in the area. Once the camp was built, there had to be four villagers permanently there to do forced labour. It was the responsibility of the village to rotate these people. However, these four workers were treated very badly by the soldiers. The villagers were beaten and kicked by the soldiers for fun. They were given no rest. Many of the villagers could not speak Burmese fluently, so when they were given orders by the soldiers, sometimes they did not understand. When there was no work to do, the soldiers did not let them rest, but made work for them, such as picking up leaves. Some women were abused by the soldiers at gunpoint. Because of this bad treatment, in the end none of the villagers wanted to do this work. The village instead paid 26,000 kyat per month to hire four people to do this work. The military also often came to the village to take porters (three to six at a time). People usually had to do portering for five or six days at a time. The soldiers took porters in this way three or four times a month. He himself did portering twice (two years ago). The first time was for four days, the second time was for three days. He had to carry food supplies, 12 pyi of rice weighing about 22 kg. They would sometimes be given no rest if the soldiers had to cover a large distance in a day. There were two kinds of porters: those arranged by the soldiers through the village head, and those rounded up directly by the soldiers. Those arranged through the village head could not run away, but those who were rounded up directly had the chance to escape. Some people were beaten during portering. He himself was beaten during his first portering trip. At that time he was a guide for the soldiers, and they beat him when they were not satisfied with the path he showed them. He was hit in the face with a rifle butt, and his face was badly swollen for a few days. There was no lasting damage. The present situation with portering was less severe than before the Mon cease-fire. In his village there were both Mon and Tavoyan people. The military tended to favour the Tavoyans (they gave them better food and less severe work). The military was also involved in extortion. The military sent orders to village heads for the village to provide (for example) five viss of dried prawns, or chickens or other food. If the village did not have the particular food requested, they would have to buy it. Sometimes a group of seven or eight soldiers would come to the village, and they would just take a pig or whatever they wanted. They sometimes just threw stones at chickens for fun, but no one could say anything. The soldiers also raped girls in his village. A Mon girl was raped by some soldiers when her husband was doing forced labour. The soldiers had come to the village and demanded a pig. The village said they could not spare one, so the soldiers demanded half a pig, then got drunk in the village and walked around, and saw the girl. They tried to talk to her, but she did not speak Burmese very well, and they then raped her. Another woman was grabbed by one of the soldiers and he put her on his shoulders and another soldier lifted up her longyi (sarong). She cried out, and other villagers came, so nothing else happened. This happened last year. He thought that five or six women in his village were raped since the cease-fire in 1995, but the women did not want to talk about it. It usually happened when their husbands were away doing forced labour or portering. In another case, a man in Natkyizin village had a beautiful daughter, and one of the soldiers wanted to marry her. The father of the girl did not agree and complained to the soldier's commander, who punished the soldier. As revenge, the soldier took the father as a porter, and cut his throat while he was portering. Poor families could not afford to pay extortion money to the soldiers, so the soldiers would come and beat them and tell them to do what the other villagers did. He was in this situation, so in the end he fled secretly with his family. He had to come secretly because the soldiers stopped people they thought were trying to flee. It took him one month to reach the camp from his village. His village used to have 70-80 households. When he left there were only about 40 left, and now there were even fewer. Some of the villagers fled to other villages, others came to the refugee camp. Before the cease-fire few people fled. The portering was more severe at that time, but it was not the whole village which was affected. People were taken randomly for portering, and some were even killed for having suspected contact with the rebels. After the cease-fire, however, extortion and forced labour increased, and affected the whole village, so more people fled. Also, because the local military battalions were always changing, it meant that there was constant forced labour and extortion, because one battalion would not care what labour or extortion the village had had to give to the previous battalion.
|
Ethnicity: |
Tavoyan |
202 |
|
Age/sex: |
38, male | |
|
Family situation: |
Married with six children | |
|
Occupation: |
Fisherman | |
|
From: |
Mintha, Yebyu township, Tanintharyi Division (village had 70 households) | |
The witness came to the Mon refugee camp three years ago. He had done forced labour on the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway, near Yah Pu. He first did this work one year before he fled to the camp. He was ordered to do this work by the village head, who was appointed by the villagers. Each household had to produce 80 kyin of rock chippings. No specific time period was given, but it usually took about 15 days to produce this amount. The work site was far from the village, and it took one day to get there by car and boat. He did this work six or seven times, and other members of his family also did it at the same time, so his three youngest children had to be left in the care of his mother. He, his wife and his three eldest children (aged 21, 20 and 17) did the forced labour. There were no soldiers at the work site. The oldest workers were about 60, with some children aged only eight or nine also doing the work. The workers had been told that they would be paid 300 kyat per kyin, but in fact they were never paid. He had to pay money to his mother (100 kyat per day) for food for the three children she looked after while he was away. He also had to pay 300 kyat per day as a fee for the three children who did not go, because the whole village had been ordered to go to the work site. All this money was lost because they were never paid anything for the work. He also had to do portering once in 1994 but he paid 9,000 kyat to hire a substitute. Portering usually lasted ten to 15 days at least. No one from his village he knows of was seriously hurt while portering, but he has seen porters being beaten by soldiers. There was an army camp in his village. The whole village was forced to build the camp about four years ago. He took part in that work. He had to cut bamboo and make sharp spikes for the camp perimeter. He had to do that work for about four periods of three days each. The order to do this work came from the village head. There were about 50 people doing the work at any one time, five or six of whom were from his village. They had to do the whole job of building the army camp from scratch, including levelling the ground, and digging trenches and bunkers. The village did not have to pay extortion money to the army. His village was mostly Tavoyan, but in the whole village-tract the Mon were in a majority. He did not think the situation was much different for the Mon and Tavoyan people in the village-tract.
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Ethnicity: |
Mon/Burmese |
203 |
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Age/sex: |
68, male | |
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Family situation: |
Four (him, wife, two married daughters) | |
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Occupation: |
Farmer and agent for labourers | |
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From: |
Ye town, Mon State | |
The witness organised a group of labourers to work on the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway construction in 1996. This was arranged through the Ward LORC head. A payment of 1,200 kyat per kyin of embankment or rock chippings completed was arranged between him and the authorities (of which he would take a percentage); it was not forced labour, as the workers went to earn money. The embankment had to be completed to the specifications they provided. In some places it was easy (for example, it the ground was easy to dig, and the area was flat), but in other places it was more difficult (for example, when the railway had to be cut into the side of a hill). Also, the workers were responsible for their own equipment, so they often had to replace the cane baskets used to carry the mud. It could sometimes take ten or even 15 days for a person to complete ten kyin. One time he remembers people (officials) coming to the work site to take photos. There were soldiers supervising the workers. They did not hurt the workers, but they did take food from the workers. As well as being the agent for the workers, he also worked himself. He first did 10 kyin of mud embankment, which was very difficult as it was working on the side of a mountain and involved carrying the baskets of mud up ladders to build the embankment. This took him 12 days. He then moved to another part of the construction and did ten kyin of broken rocks. This took six days. He had 216 labourers working under him, but when the time came to be paid, the military refused to pay him. The battalion in charge of the work was IB 106. He tried to come to a deal with the commander, so that the commander could keep 100 kyat per kyin, he would keep 100 kyat per kyin, and 1,000 kyat would go to the workers. The commander refused and finally paid 700 kyat per kyin, saying this was an order and so it had to be accepted. The commander kept the 500 kyat per kyin extra for himself. The 216 workers had by this time completed 486 kyin. After this no one wanted to do the work voluntarily any more, so the soldiers had to go back to using forced labour, as they had before. While he was working in the railway, he saw many workers at the site. He thinks there were 6,000 or 7,000 people working on the whole stretch that he saw, including women and children. Sometimes the soldiers supervising the work would steal rock chippings from the villagers. They would then sell these rock chippings to other villagers who wanted to pay money to get out of their forced labour assignment.
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Ethnicity: |
Mon |
204 |
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Age/sex: |
32, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with four children | |
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Occupation: |
Day labourer | |
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From: |
Tada Pyat, Kya In Seik Gyi township, Kayin State (village had 60 households) | |
The witness came to the Mon refugee camp in early 1998. He did forced labour in March/April 1997 on the construction of a road from Kya In Seik Gyi to Taungbauk. This was a new road being constructed across farm land. The construction of this road started in the 1996 dry season. The work was ordered by the soldiers who ordered a meeting of all the villagers to inform them that one person from each house in the village had to go to the work site. They were told that any villager who did not go would be punished. They were told that if a household did not have a male worker, a woman would have to be sent. The work site was a one day walk from the village. When they arrived they had to work for a period of four days. The villagers had to bring their own food. He did this work about five times before the rainy season, when construction halted. Each time he had to work for four days, with a one day walk at either end. About 60 villagers went at a time, of which about 20 were women; there were also about ten children under 15, the youngest about 12 or 13. The work they had to do was to collect large stones, crush them, and lay them on the embankment, with larger stones on the bottom and smaller pieces on top. All the villagers had to do the same kind of work. He saw a total of about 1,000 people working on the road. Each person was assigned a given amount of work to do. They had to start work at 6 a.m. and finished at 6 p.m. Rest times depended on the arrangement made by the village head, with workers usually getting a one hour rest in the middle of the day. No arrangement was made for the workers who had to sleep at the work site; they had to sleep on the ground in the fields around the construction site. There were soldiers at the work site. They did not supervise the actual work as it was the village head who was responsible for this, but they patrolled the work site and checked on the work that was being done. The village also had to provide porters to the military. Six people had to be provided, and these were rotated every three days. The village head was responsible for arranging the rotation. He had to find out where the troops were and send six replacement porters to that place, after which the first six would be released. Sometimes it was difficult to find out where the troops were, so sometimes it was two weeks or even a month before the village head was able to change the porters, especially if the troops were very far away, such as in an offensive against the KNU (the troops could be as far away as Three Pagodas Pass). He himself did portering about ten times since June 1997, for a different period each time, but ranging from three days to nine days. During portering he had to carry ammunition (seven to nine mortar shells). He had to carry them for the whole day, sometimes even at night. There was little rest, especially when the troops were in a hurry. The porters were only provided with a small amount of cold, hard cooked rice and some fish paste. They usually slept in the jungle, but sometimes in a plantation or in a Karen village. If porters were slow they were treated very badly by the soldiers. Once he was portering at the same time as his brother, and his brother was mistreated because he could not walk quickly as he was very tired. The soldiers kicked him with their heavy military boots, punched him, and jabbed him with a knife (the knife blade entered about one inch into his buttocks). After this his brother could not walk properly, and was allowed to walk with no load for one day, but then the next day had to carry his load again. He saw this himself. He was sworn at by the soldiers, but never beaten. He saw many other porters beaten by the soldiers, some of whom were from his village. Soldiers always beat porters who could not work properly; he saw this on every occasion he went portering. No porter was allowed to return home even if they were suffering from exhaustion or illness. He also did portering, less regularly, since he was 14 or 15 years old. At this time the soldiers took porters by coming into a village and rounding them up, so the villagers often fled at this time. Before the Mon cease-fire, portering was much less regular. He did portering a total of about eight times before the cease-fire, but he ran away to avoid being rounded up on many more occasions. In the period after the cease-fire, he did portering on a further eight occasions (not including the ten times since June 1997). Before the cease-fire, when porters were rounded up by the soldiers they were never released and the only way was to run away. The treatment of porters was also worse before the cease-fire. If a porter could not walk quickly he was beaten, but before the cease-fire he would have been shot. He saw the bodies of over 30 dead porters when he was portering before (they had either been shot or beaten to death). His father was seriously injured during portering about ten years ago. It was during an offensive and his shoulders were rubbed to the bone from carrying a heavy load in a cane basket on his back. During offensives, porters were also used as human shields, by being put in front of the troops in dangerous areas. It was like this in every offensive, and hundreds of porters were killed in this way. Porters were liable to be shot if they tried to run away, but they had no choice because they would not be released otherwise. He always ran away; 13 days was the longest he did portering. After the cease-fire, portering was arranged through the village head. It was not then possible to run away, but porters were released when replacements arrived. In the beginning of 1997 his village was forced to build an army camp for IB 32 at Taungbauk village (about one hour walk from his village). One person from each house in the village had to do the work constructing the camp. Villagers also had to bring five small trees and five pieces of bamboo with them for the construction. Owners of bullock carts in the village were also forced to provide their bullock carts for the transportation of construction materials to the camp. During construction of the camp, villagers had to stay at the camp until their work assignment was finished (about two days). About half the workers were women; there were no children. Treatment by the soldiers was not bad. Whenever the soldiers came into the village they asked for rice, chickens or alcohol, which the village had to provide. They sometimes informed the village head what they required, but at other times they just stole what they wanted directly. There were usually about ten soldiers staying in the village (they stayed at the houses of the village head and village secretary), and the village had to feed them. If the soldiers wanted anything, they would just take it. The village head was elected by the villagers, and was sympathetic to their problems, but he had to do as he was ordered to by the military. The situation in some other villages was much worse than in his village, especially when villages were suspected of helping rebels. In these villages there was common torture of the villagers, and rape. Recently, before he went to the camp, there was forced relocation in his area (though not of his village). Other villages in the area had to move to Taungbauk village. The relocation order was issued in October. He heard about the case of one Mon family who did not want relocate, because they had a rubber plantation. this was near Kyauk Kyat village, about 1 hour walk from his village. Because they did not relocate, the family was held at gunpoint while four soldiers raped their daughter in front of them. He heard about this from people in the area who knew the family. The 10 villages which were relocated included Kyauk Kyat, Tha Shay, Ma-U, Klaw Taw Chaung, Kyaik Raung, Tha Ya Gone and Ye Le. Of these, Ma-U and Kyaik Raung were mainly Karen, while the others were mainly Mon. The villages ranged in size from 60 to 200 families each. They were given one month to relocate to Way Tha Li village (which is between Taungbauk and Kya In Seik Kyi, and so under military control) and Taungbauk village (which has an army base). Some villagers moved to the relocation sites, some went to refugee camps, and a few remained secretly in their villages. The battalions he knows of that were involved in the relocations were IB 32, LIB 355 and LIB 356. He decided to go to the refugee camp, because he was a day labourer and had no farm, so had to work every day just to survive. He was unable to do this, however, because of portering, which meant that he could not continue to feed his family. His family, his brother's family, and three other families fled to the refugee camp together. It was mostly the poorer villagers who fled, but the better off villagers (those with farms) generally did not flee. The farm owners in his village were warned that if they allowed rebels to stay in the village, their village would also be relocated. His village and another close-by village were not relocated, because the soldiers wanted to use them as somewhere to stay. The other village was mostly Mon, with some Tai inhabitants also.
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Ethnicity: |
Tai |
205 |
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Age/sex: |
41, male | |
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Family situation: |
Married with four children | |
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Occupation: |
Labourer | |
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From: |
Kyaik Raung, Kya In Seik Gyi township, Kayin State (village had 100 households) | |
The witness came to the Mon refugee camp in December 1997. He had done portering. He was rounded up by the military and forced to carry things for them. The last time was in September 1997, the first time was when he was about 17. He could not estimate how many times he had been a porter. Sometimes it was as often as twice a month. He usually portered for about ten days at a time, but he was not released by the soldiers after this time, he used to run away. If a porter was caught trying to escape, he would be beaten and then given a heavier load. This happened to him twice. If a porter was slow he would be beaten. This happened a few times to him. Anyone who had the strength to carry a backpack would be taken, from about 13 years old, to old men. Women were not taken. The heaviest load he had to carry was artillery shells; 19 smaller shells, or a smaller number of larger shells. This was so heavy that he was unable to walk properly. The shells also banged against his back when he walked, which caused an injury. Other things he had to carry included rice and other food. The longest period he was away for was 25 days. He did all kinds of portering, including at the front line and in battles. In battles, the porters were put in the middle of the soldiers; he never saw a porter die during a battle. If there was fighting with rebels, the soldiers would go into villages, beat the village head, and burn down the village. The number of porters depended on how many the soldiers could get; sometimes there would be five, sometimes as many as 20. The worst was portering in the rainy season, when sometimes they would get no food for a whole day. The soldiers would normally sleep on a platform above the ground, but the porters would just have to sleep on the mud, which was worse in the rainy season. The porters had to cook for themselves, and for the soldiers as well. If at any time the porters did not carry out orders quickly, or if they were slow when walking, they would be beaten, punched or hit with a rifle butt. Such beatings were very common; he saw this on every trip he went. Several times he saw porters hit on the head so hard that the skull was exposed, and their whole head and face was covered with blood. He had seen porters who were sick and could not continue beaten by the soldiers and then die (from a combination of the beating and the illness); this happened occasionally but not every trip. Sometimes if a porter was sick he could pay the soldiers to be released from further portering (for three days, 200 kyat or the equivalent in chickens). When the soldiers went into a village they would steal whatever they wanted, and sometimes if they saw a beautiful girl, they would grab her by force and kiss her. Once he saw a soldier catch a villager who was suspected of being a rebel and shoot him on the spot. The soldiers also used to grab the village head and hit him. The worst injury he has personally suffered during portering was a blow to the head (with a rifle) which resulted in severe swelling but no permanent damage. Last year, when he was in his village, some soldiers came into his house and stole some of his things and kicked him with their boots. The soldiers would often force villagers, including women, to sleep at the army camp, as a deterrent against possible rebel attacks. He does not know if the women were abused at this time. The last time he did portering (in September 1997) it was arranged through the village head. The village head told him to go for three days' portering, but he was not released for 20 days, because no replacement arrived. His feet were very sore from walking, and he had a fever and headache. He was not allowed to take any rest, and was beaten to make him go faster. The porters were not fed properly, only salt and rice. There was enough rice to fill them up, but nothing else, and so they became weak. The soldiers would steal chickens from villages, but would not give any to the porters. Finally, after 20 days, six replacements arrived, and he was released. He was usually rounded up for portering by the soldiers while he was working in his fields. At these times he would often try to run away, and was sometimes successful. The other villagers would also try to run away. If a villager had money, it was also possible to pay the soldiers to release them so they could avoid portering. If he was looking after his cows when he was grabbed, he would not have a chance to take the cows back to the village. Only twice was portering arranged through the village head. Another time the whole village (including him) had to cut bamboo poles for the construction of a camp for IB 355. Other villages had to do the actual construction, his village just had to provide the bamboo. It was very hard work, and took the village two days of cutting. The bamboo poles had to be very large (he indicated about 30 cm diameter), and 20 cubits long (about 9 metres). He did not do other kinds of forced labour, but other people in his village had to do forced labour on road construction. The road was being built to Three Pagodas Pass. The work started last year in the hot season. Five people from the village had to go for 15 days at a time. Which people from the village had to go was organised by the village head. He left the village before his turn came. The village also had to give food and money to the soldiers once a month. Every month the soldiers would ask for what they wanted; it would be food (such as pork), or money, but usually not both. This had been going on for many years. He came to the refugee camp two months ago, with his family. They came because of the many problems they faced: there was a lot of portering, so they were unable to do their own work; any time they left the village, they were at risk of being grabbed by soldiers for portering. Many other families from his village had come to the camp before him (he knows of about 30).