The Abuse of the Burmese People

by Dr. John Walsh

A new report by Amnesty International describes the continuing oppression of the Burmese/Myanmar people.  The military run the country and troops regularly use violence, against civilians, including women and children. One in six Burmese people suffer from malnutrition and one child in three suffers from chronic malnourishment. Burmese people are forced into slavery – working for the military state without recompense and without any choice. The situation is particularly bad for ethnic minority people, whose possessions are subject to seizure and their land confiscated, with violence and abuse meted out to them. The army has, it is reported, been required to become self-sufficient and so it is stealing food and money from people to pay the soldiers and but equipment. The abuse is particularly severe among the ethnic minority communities which support armed opposition to the government. Mike Tucker’s book The Long Patrol gives some indication of the desperate struggle of the Karen people against the predatory military.

Amnesty International’s latest report has these main findings:

• "Widespread use of men, women and children as forced labour for portering, construction work and farming in contravention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention (No 29) to which the Myanmar Government acceded in 1955;
• Mass forced evictions, land confiscations and house destruction without compensation;
• Beating and killing of civilians forced to carry rice or other supplies for the military, if they are unable to keep up with the work rate;
• Regular harassment, abuse and arbitrary detention of civilians by the military;
• Stealing by the military of villagers' crops, livestock, household possessions, and money leaving thousands without adequate shelter and food;
• Government restrictions on the ability of UN and other agencies to assist the population by denying access to rural areas and particularly the ethnic minority border regions."

It is hardly surprising that so many Burmese people are desperate to cross the border into Thailand or China in order to find a better lifestyle. Some cross rivers on a daily basis to do wage labouring and then return with a few baht to support their families. Others try to make a more permanent home. It is not known how many Burmese migrants there are in Thailand but estimates are in the hundreds of thousands, most of whom are unregistered and illegal. In the wake of the tsunami of December 26th, 2004, when unknown numbers of Burmese fishermen drowned (estimates are in the hundreds), surviving Burmese migrants fled and hid from authorities rather than seeking medical assistance or food relief for fear of being repatriated. There are also approximately 145,000 Burmese living in refugee camps along the border.

Burmese tend to work in the most undesirable activities which Thais do not wish to do. This includes fishing, which involves extensive periods at sea in difficult conditions and low pay, as well as domestic work for women and the sex industry. Unfortunately, the treatment that Burmese migrants receive in Thailand is frequently abusive, ranging from casual racism to violence and mistreatment. As the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has opted for a policy of engagement with the Burmese government to try to coax them back into the community of nations, Thai authorities are strict towards any Burmese migrants who are deemed to be opponents to the Burmese regime.

The stories told by the Burmese migrants are heartbreaking. A book published by Myint Wai contains a selection of the stories of the migrants, stories of abuse, sexual violence, exploitation and misery. Here is one typical account from a 17 year old Burmese woman: "The shop sold alcohol and they ran a prostitution business too. I was watched by the owner, so that I would not go anywhere. As the police often came to the shop, I was repeatedly warned by the owner that if I fled from there, they would get the police to arrest me. Anyone who fled from there would be locked in a room without food, and punished by beating. Although we had to work at the shop, we were not paid a regular salary. There were ten girls and women like me and we had to work from 10a.m. to 7p.m. at the food shop. Furthermore, the owner had another shop selling only food and we had to work at that shop by rotation. For that work we did not get any pay either. But we could buy food at the shop by putting it on a tab. If a woman had to go with a customer for the night, she would have to come back at the right time the following day if she had to work at the food shop in the day time. If a woman did not come back at the right time, the owner would beat her or cut some money from her income" (Myint Wai, 2004, pp.94-5).

The authorities offered little support and often exacerbated problems: "When I was in the police station, I had to clean the outside of our cell. I saw a plastic rope, which was 1/3 or 2/3 inch in diameter, on the wall of the female cell above the toilet. A Burmese prisoner told me that the rope was used by a Burmese woman and her daughter, who was about 17-18 years old, to hang themselves. The girl was raped nearly every night in front of her mother. They had hanged themselves on the toilet wall with the same rope that was draped over a steel bar on the top of the cell wall. They each used one end of the rope. The people who were released after the suicide mentioned this case and said that they had heard the rapes happening every night before the suicide" (Myint Wai, 2004, p.126).

And yet, despite all of this grim exploitation, it is still not as bad as being in Burma: "If I had stayed in Burma, I would be forced to porter for the military or forced to pay a fee to the military to avoid the duty. Even in Thailand, I have to pay the Thai police or the local gangster bribe money. My problems were normal, but I have heard of worse troubles than mine on the boats from other Burmese fishermen" (Myint Wai, 2004, p.47).

References and Further Reading

"Burma Forced Labour ‘Widespread,’" BBC News Online (September 7th, 2005), downloaded from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4224720.stm.

"Myanmar: Tens of thousands facing forced labour, beatings and theft," Amnesty International Press Release (September 7th, 2005), downloaded from: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa160242005.

Amnesty International, Myanmar: Leaving Home (Amnesty International, 2005), downloaded from: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa160232005.

Myint Wai, A Memoir of Burmese Workers: from Slave Labour to Illegal Migrant Workers, edited by Subhatra Bhumiprabhas and Adisorn Kerdmongkol (Bangkok: Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, 2004).

Tucker, Mike, The Long Patrol (Bangkok: Asia Books, 2003).