Burma: Forced Displacement by Burmese Army Continues in Karen State

by Human Rights Watch  



(Bangkok, June 9, 2005)-- The Burmese army continues to target civilians 
in its war against ethnic Karen insurgents, forcibly displacing large numbers 
of poor villagers, Human Rights Watch said today.  Human rights abuses 
such as extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labor continue to 
characterize the tactics of an unreformed and unaccountable Burmese army.  


A new 70-page report, "'They Came and Destroyed Our Village Again': The 
Plight of Internally Displaced Persons in Karen State", documents numerous 
incidents of forced displacement, including a mother forced to flee her village 
after watching Burmese soldiers shoot and kill her daughter, a young family 
fleeing for their lives after soldiers went on a rampage in their Karen village, 
and a Karen man watched as troops looted his village after forcing him and 
other residents to flee. 


"The government still allows the Burmese army to kill and drive people out 
of their villages with complete impunity," said Brad Adams, Asia director for 
Human Rights Watch.  "While the world has rightly condemned the treatment 
of Aung San Suu Kyi and the lack of democracy, it needs also to focus on the 
Burmese army's brutal displacement of the Karen and other ethnic minorities." 


Human Rights Watch interviewed 46 ethnic Karen about their experiences of 
forced displacement.  Together, the 46 reported being displaced more than 
1,000 times in their lives. Incredibly, five individuals said they had been forcibly 
displaced more than 100 times. 


Burma continues to flout its international legal obligations on the use of forced 
labor. Many Karen villagers told Human Rights Watch that they fled their homes 
to avoid attacks by the Burmese armed forces. Many explained that they had to 
run away to avoid forced labor for the army.  One 19-year-old man explained:


One evening … my mother sent me to the market.… On my way home, I was 
arrested by the Burma Army soldiers, and my arms were tied behind my back. 
They forced me to get into a truck, which already contained over 100 people.…  
In the morning they gave us some rice, and then took us to the battalion base.…
We were put in a building surrounded by soldiers, where we spent the night. The 
next day we had to carry rice up the motor road to Mu Then. We eventually arrived 
at their Ka Pen base, where we stayed for three months.

 
"Despite repeated denials by the Rangoon, the army continues to conscript local
villagers, including children, to work either as army porters or as unpaid laborers," 
said Adams.  "Besides putting their lives at grave risk, it creates incalculable 
hardships for very poor people and their families already living in constant fear 
of attack by the Burmese army and it proxy forces."

 
Human Rights Watch found that many internally displaced persons may not 
be able to go home again, as their villages may be destroyed, in a battle zone, 
occupied, or mined.  Contrary to common assumptions, many may also not 
want to go home after being displaced so many times over such a long period, 
preferring to stay where they are or to resettle elsewhere. 


Human Rights Watch said that those providing assistance should avoid a 
one-size-fits-all approach to meeting the needs of displace persons.  Instead, 
as set out in the U.N. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the focus 
should be on individual choice and the needs of specific communities.  


The main problems identified by Karen displaced persons were lack of consistent 
access to food, insufficient income and livelihood problems, lack of access to 
education and health services, and landmines.  Most said that their primary 
need is to be able to farm properly, without disturbance, and thus improve 
their incomes and food security.


Human Rights Watch called on the Burmese government to allow impartial 
humanitarian agencies free access to displaced persons and for donors to 
increase assistance. Landmine mapping and clearance is a particularly 
urgent unmet need.


"Solutions for displaced persons in areas of Burma still in conflict or heavily 
militarized require imagination and resources," said Adams.  "Providing aid 
through local, community based groups and attempting to build up civil society 
should be a priority for donors."


Human Rights Watch said that the Burmese government should be pressed 
to allow local organizations to be formed and work freely."  


Independent estimates suggest that, as of late 2004, as many as 650,000 
people were internally displaced in eastern Burma alone.  According to a recent 
survey, 157,000 civilians have been displaced in eastern Burma since the end 
of 2002, and at least 240 villages destroyed, relocated, or abandoned.  Many 
internally displaced persons live in hiding in war zones.  Recent military 
offensives by the Burmese army have created thousands more displaced persons. 


"The recalcitrance of the Burmese government and the behavior of the Burmese 
army should be an embarrassment to Burma's friends and patrons in Beijing, 
New Delhi," said Adams.  "They should tell Rangoon to end the abuses or find 
new friends."

In Bangkok, Brad Adams: + 66 4 647 2687
In Bangkok, Sunai Phasuk: + 66 16 32 3052

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