News,
Personal Accounts, Report & Analysis on Human Rights Situation in
The Mon Forum
Issue
No. 2/99
The
Publication of Human Rights Foundation of Monland (
Contents
News:
(1) Conscription
of forced labour in Widening of Ye-Tavoy Motor Road,
(2) SPDC Troops
used civilians as human-shields on
Report:
(1) Forced labour in construction of dikes for army's rice
cultivation lands in Yebyu township area
Some
Acronyms in This Issue
SPDC- State Peace and Development
Council,
IB - Infantry
Battalion (of Burmese Army),
LIB- Light
Infantry Battalion (of Burmese Army),
KNU- Karen
National
KNLA- Karen
National Liberation Army,
NMSP-
New
News
Conscription of Forced Labour in Widening of Ye-
(February, 1999)
Since mid-November, 1998, SPDC local battalions in
Tenasserim Division planned to widen Ye-Tavoy motor road, "which is about
90 miles long, and have used the civilians in Yebyu and Tavoy township area as
unpaid labourers to complete the construction. The order came from SPDC's
Coastal Region Military Command based in Mergui town and its Commander Maj.
Gen. Sit Maung also gave responsibility to Col. Maung Oo, the commander of Strategic
Command in Yebyu area, to complete this construction. In mid-November, Col.
Maung Oo also called a meeting with all village leaders in Yebyu township and instructed them to send the villager labourers
to the contraction sites.
According to reliable sources,
In building the new widen road, the villagers have to carry
small kyins of small pieces of stones from outside of the road and laid
these stones in the road. They have to collect these big stones from hills or
streams which are at least far half a mile or one mile from the construction
site. The villagers collected these stones and crashed these into small pieces
of stones and then brought to construction site. Sometimes, all villagers from
a village collected these stones and brought it together to the construction
site with oxen-carts. If the villager could not get stones, or were hurry to
complete the construction, they have to buy small pieces of stones from the
nearest military battalions. Generally, the villagers have to pay at least
800-1,000 Kyat for one kyin of stones to the battalions
which takes responsibility or guarding the villagers along the road. And
the villagers have to pay transportation costs to load and bring these small
pieces of stones to the place in which they have to lay.
In this construction, under the command of Strategic
Commander Col. Maung Oo, two SPDC local battalions, LIB No. 408 and 410, have
taken responsibility to complete widening this Ye-Tavoy motor road. During the
construction, these two battalions also conscripted some villagers and gave
work-duties to gather stones besides to construct the road. After they gathered
stones, they have to give it to the battalions. Then, battalions re-sell these
stones again to another villagers who urgently needed
the stones. According to reliable sources, the local battalions also received
government budget, about 200,000 Kyat per mile to complete widening the road,
but these battalions conscripted forced labour from local villages and did not
pay any labour cost to the villagers. By these ways, the battalions have found
fund for battalions or the commanders have enjoyed in corruption to find for
self-profit during this construction.
Before they left the work-sites, the villagers
were also instructed by their headmen to carry their own foods, cashes
and tools to there because the military would not provide any foods or tools
for villagers. The villagers said they might have to carry about 30 kilograms
of rice to the work-site, which might be enough to eat for one week in there
and 1,000 Kyat cash to buy supplement foods such as cooking oil, vegetables and
etc.. Because of this construction, the villagers have
less and less time to work their own works to get incomes or crops for
survival. As a result, some villagers also fled from the native village to
escape from the constant conscription of forced labour for this Ye-Tavoy motor
road and other type of forced labour that often
has been required by the
SPDC battalions.
SPDC
Troops Used Civilians as Human-shields on
(January, 1999)
On January 14, 1999, when a SPDC military battalion, IB No.
97, led by battalion commander Lt. Col. Tin Aye and second commander Lt. Thein
Tun Aung and about 200 troops moved to Three-Pagoda-Pass town to change with
another battalion, IB No. 62, the commanders and soldiers used civilians and
traders as human-shields to prevent themselves from the attack of KNLA troops.
The attack incident was happened near a village called, Anan-gwin, which is
about 25 miles far from Thanbyuzayat, and 4 civilians died on the spot and
other 16 of them got serious injuries due to attack.
In the first week of January, Southeast Region Military
Command ordered IB No. 97, which based in Kawkareik town of
On
Actually, KNLA knew that the SPDC will leave from Anan-gwin
and they have waited to attack them for some days. KNU/KNLA also ordered the
trucks to not make any travel during night and so they thought the trucks
loading with SPDC troops moved at night time. Because of dark condition, Karen
troops did not clearly see whether trucks are loading civilians or soldiers,
they made a sudden attack to the trucks. After they heard the crying sound of
women and children, they stopped shooting and retreated back their troops back.
Normally, the civilians who died and got serious injuries
were Mon traders and young men and women who tried to go into
Due to constant military operations launched by SPDC
against the KNU/KNLA, the security conditions along the Three Pagoda
Pass-Thanbyuzayat motor road became quiet unsafe for travelers, local civilians
and traders who had to rely on this road. However, they have no choice for
survival and many of them have used this road to make income. The SPDC troops
always looked for opportunity to use civilian porters or traders as
human-shields to protect themselves from the attack of KNLA troops and so the
civilians have always tried to avoid to not travel
with government troops.
Report
Forced
Labour in Construction of Dikes for Army's Rice Cultivation Lands in
Supply
Cuts to Army and Creation of Self-support in SPDC Local Battalions
In July, 1998, the respective SPDC local military
battalions under the commands of Southeast Military Division and Coastal Region
Military Division were instructed to provide food supplies for themselves and
the government food rations were cut due to food-shortage in government supply
ware-houses. According to orders instructed by the top level officers, the
local military battalion commanders had to take responsibility to seek foods
for their soldiers.
After instructing this new order, some military battalions
in
According to a 46 years old farmer in Taungbone village, Ye township, he said:
"During June and July, when the rain started, the
soldiers from Tamortkanin village (IB No. 106) ordered our village headman to
send about 10 farmers to work in the soldiers owned farms near our village. So
the villagers had to go early morning and took foods from their homes. When the
soldiers instructed to plough the lands, we also had to bring some tools and
oxen to their farms along with us.
Then we also have to grow plants in the farms again. The
soldiers also took rice plants from other farmers' farms and let the villagers
grow in their farms. So far, I had to
work about nearly 15 days (five rounds) in their soldiers
farms, while I was hurry up to complete rice growing in my farms."
At the same time, some local battalions in
In areas where the battalions could not participate in
businesses or could not get farmlands also explored some unused lands to be
farms and made dikes to distribute water to the farms. In
Yebyu township, because of thousands of SPDC troops deployment and less
of farmlands in the area, many local battalions explored new lands to do
farming. However for the rice cultivation lands, these need a lot of water to
be able for growing rice. Therefore, the local villagers have been constantly
forced to build embankments and dikes that need to close many streams and
rivers in area.
Construction
of Four Dikes in
Under the instruction of Coastal Region Military Division
that bases in Tavoy town, the capital of Tenasserim Division, the local
battalions in Ye township LIB No. 401 through 410, LIB No, 273 have to build
four dikes with objective to provide food supplies to estimated 6,000 soldiers
and government servants in this township area. Normally, the local residents
are working many acres of rubber plantation, betel-nut plantation and others. Less than half of the population in the area grows rice and
therefore, although the government authorities set up many paddy-buying
centers, they could receive only little amount of paddy. These amount of paddy is too less if compared with the
numbers of soldiers and government servants. After the government could not
provide food supplies for the soldiers, the higher commanders instructed the
local battalions' commanders to explore farmlands for rice-cultivation.
Because of this instructed orders, about 15 local military
battalions that base in Yebyu township area planned to build four long and big
dikes near seacoast area of Yebyu township area. In building these dikes, the
commanders of all battalions in the townships have
been given responsibility
to manage all works. While they are managing to build the dikes, thousands of
local inhabitants, Mon, Karen and Tavoyan villagers have been constantly
conscripted as "forced labourers".
A.
The Construction of "Singu" Dikes
In June, 1998, a local SPDC battalion LIB No. 407
conscripted some hundreds of villagers from Singu and Eindayaza village tracts
and forced them to find the route that needed to build long embankment. This
new embankment passes four main wide streams namely, Kyauk-zon, Kalar-mu,
War-taw and Mayan-chaung. According villagers this embankment is long about 5,
000 meters. In building this dike, the military commanders planned to build big
and strong embankment with labour contribution of the local villagers.
They planned to build 10 meter in width and 3 meters in
height embankment including closing all streams which were right on embankment
route. They forced the villagers to dig earth outside of the embankment and
filled in it. At the same time, the most hard work for
the villagers was to close the streams. The soldiers forced the villagers to
cut trees and build walls with several pole-poles in the streams and put earth
between the walls and ' close the streams.
In June and July, 1998, the local battalion LIB No. 407
forced about 200-300 villagers initially and forced them to clear foliage and
cut trees which were along the set route. The villagers have to clear about 25
meters in width along the route and so the village headmen from nearly 10
villages near the construction had to arrange providing village labourers to
the construction sites. After two months clearing the route,
more villagers about 500-600 villagers in estimation were daily conscripted by
soldiers to build the embankment along the route. Although the
embankment was instructed to be built with 3 meters in height, the villagers
had to build more higher when ever the embankment passed low places. The
embankment must be the same level in all places, the
villagers had to fill earth in many low places along the route. The building of embankment have taken for over four months but
the whole construction have not completed yet.
Besides four main four main and big streams, there were
several small streams along the route. Before the soldiers did closing water or
building parallel walls in these big streams, they forced the villagers to
close all small streams which were on the route. Then the villagers built to
get the same level or height of embankment. Although since September/October,
1998, the building of embankment in small streams were
started one by one, this process of construction was absolutely completed at
the end of the year.
Since the beginning, over 500 villagers
from three village tracts, Eindayaza, Singu and Kywe-tho-nyima, in the daily
construction of this dike. In September and October,
1998, the soldiers also conscripted about 100 villagers from Natkyisin village
tract and forced them to cut trees and send wood poles which were needed to be
used in making water walls. At least one house in the village had to cut about
15 feets long 20 trees and sent it to the construction site. The villagers in
Natkyisin villagers had to go to forests to cut trees and then sent these trees
by oxen-carts or trucks. When the needed amount of cut trees arrived to the
construction site, the soldiers forced the villagers from the closest three
village tracts to build water walls and fill earth between the two walls to get
strong embankment. This process of construction is still in on-going situation.
Therefore, the villagers from three village tracts have to work for
the construction on the daily basis.
While our human rights conducted an interview with an 30 year old villager from Singu village, he explained as
below:
"In June, the soldiers from LIB No. 407 came to our
village, went to village headman house and instructed him they have to build a
dike in east of our village and needed some villagers from our village to start
it. On the next day, village headman called a meeting with all villagers and
told the plan of the army. First, they instructed the villagers to find the
route. They confiscated some lands, I think about 500
acres and planned to grow rice. These large lands have been used for villagers
to raise their cattle for many years. But nobody could dare to tell them to not
confiscate the lands, and so every village kept quiet. After we find the route,
they also continuously forced the villagers to fill earth in all small streams.
For the cleaning foliage along the route, it took about three weeks and then to
fill the earth in streams it took about three months. Luckily, because of no
much
rain
during rainy season, we had no problem in closing the streams.
Then, the soldiers instructed the villagers to cut trees to
make poles in closing big streams. When we closed the small streams, because
these streams are not so deep, we did not have to put poles in there. We just
dug earth and filled along the route of embankment. When the earth was fully
filled in streams, these streams were absolutely closed. Differently, when the
soldiers ordered to close the large streams or rivers, we have to find wood
poles and put them to create to parallel tree walls across the rivers. Then the
villagers were forced to fill earth between the two walls. This work was
terrible, so I have no time to work in farm and I decided to flee from
homes."
Because of constant conscription of forced labour and
consequence conditions in the work-sites, may villagers from the area have fled
from their villages and displaced inside the country.
B.
The Construction of "Hmaw-gyi" Dike
The construction of this Hmaw-gyi dike was started since
July, 1998, like Singu dike. At the beginning, SPDC local troops from LIB No.
408 took responsibility to find route for embankment and it passes about three
big and main streams and, other 13 small streams. The measured length of route
is in estimation about 4,000 meters and therefore, the villagers in the area
have been constantly conscripted by army and they have to complete the
construction step by step.
First, like the construction of Singu dike, the villagers
were forced to find the possible route that was situated in the west side of
Hmaw-gyi village and so the route also passed into small forests and grass fields.
Then the villagers continuously cleared foliage and cut trees along the route.
In clearing the route, the villagers were ordered to clear about 25 meters in
width. Then they were instructed to build 15 meters in width and 3 meters in
height embankment along the route.
While the villagers were building the embankment, they were
also instructed to close all small streams. The small streams are wide about 14
to 20 meters and the villagers were also forced to find trees to make poles and
made water walls and put earth in it. The construction of embankment and
closing of all small streams lasted over three months and was started in
August. So during August to October, 1998, even in rainy season, the villagers
in the area were forced to continuously build the embankment. In this
construction, at least about 300-400 villagers have been forced to work in the
daily construction processes such as clearing the route, building embankment
and closing streams.
Since October, the soldiers have instructed the villagers
again to close the big streams and make tree pole walls. In this construction,
the soldiers have used normally villagers from Legyi, Mintha and Kywe-tho-nyima
village tracts. They also forced the villagers from these village tracts to
find trees and brought tree poles to the construction site. Since November,
1998, the closing of big streams was started and it has taken time until the
end of February, 1999.
There were three big streams along the route and they were
"Wa-phae-chaung", "Kyauk-pate", and "Kuntheetaw",
and were estimably 80 meters, 70 meters and 65 meters respectively wide. The
villagers in the three village tracts were instructed to cut at least about
6-10 feet long 20 pieces of trees and brought it to the construction site. The
gathering of the needed wood poles took nearly one month and when the water
level was stable after rainy season, the soldiers forced the villagers to make
pole walls and build embankment.
In this construction, only the troops from LIB No. 408 have
taken responsibility in managing the works and conscripting labour from the
villagers. Every month since the construction started, LIB No. 408 headquarters
sent one column of troops to this construction to take security and to manage
the construction, especially to share works to villagers and forced the
villagers to contribute labour. The troops were changed every month, all troops
have used the villagers inhumanely and the villagers always faced terrible
situation in the work-site. Normally, many hundreds of villagers went to
Hmaw-gyi village and stayed there until their work-duties were completed.
C.
Construction of "Kywe-tho-nyima" Dike
Similarly, LIB No. 273's troops have also managed the
construction and have forced the villagers from "Kywe-tho-nyima"
village tracts constantly. This dike is situating on "Kwae-tho-nyima"
island and northern side of that village. The embankment of this dike is long
about 2,000 meters and it passes from east side to •west side of the island.
Normally, the villagers from 7 villages in the village
tract have been conscripted as "forced labourers" in the construction
site since September, 1998, by local troops of LIB No. 273. In September, the
soldiers forced about 100 villagers from village tract and forced them to find
the route and in October, the villagers had to clear the route of the
embankment. Since October, soon after the clearance of the route, the villagers
were instructed to start building the embankment again. Until the beginning of
1999, the forced conscription of labour for the construction have
been continuous. LIB No. 273 also ordered the villagers to build embankment
with 15 meters in width and 3 meters in height in the plain places and more higher embankment they have to build when the route
passed valley area.
This dike closes two main and big streams to store water
and these two streams are wide about 80 meters-and 100 meters respectively. Like
other dikes, LIB No. 273 troops also ordered the villagers to cut trees and use
it as poles in building water walls. The embankment that passing the streams
were also built and the work-duties were shared to all villagers in the village
tract.
The local commander has conscripted at least about 200-300
labourers in daily works in the construction site. The commander just gave
instruction to the village tract leaders and the chairman issued the orders to
every village in the village tract to send the needed number of villagers. In
this village tract, many villages are not in island and most of them in the
northern part of the island. After the villagers arrived to the construction
site, they have to sleep in Kywe-tho-nyima and went to the construction every
day until their one round work-duties were completed.
D.
Construction of "Mintha" Dike
Following the instruction of another SPDC local battalion
LIB No. 410, a dike with a shortest embankment has been built with unpaid
forced labour near Mintha village. The embankment for this dike was long about
1,000 meters, it mainly closed ''Mintha" stream that flows close to Mintha
village. By closing this stream, the soldiers could explore some farmlands near
Mintha village and they could get enough water for the farm.
At the beginning of construction, the battalion already
found the route of embankment and started conscripting the villagers from only
Mintha village tract to contribute labour in all construction processes of this
dike. The building of embankment was started in October, 1998, and most parts
of embankment besides closing Mintha stream were built within one month period.
After the building of most parts of embankment, the
soldiers continuously forced the villagers to close Mintha streams. The
villagers had to cut trees and find hard-wood poles to make two water walls in
stream and then were forced to fill earth between two walls to get a strong
embankment that could prevent water flood and stored water in upside area. The
closing of the stream and building of embankment was completed in January,
1999, according to villagers.
The soldiers have conscripted at least 100 villagers in
daily construction of the dike. The villagers have to come from the villages
nearby which are consisted of village tract and have to sleep in Mintha
village. Normally, half of households in Mintha village were daily constricted
by the soldiers and another half households have to send able-bodied men to another work-sites, such as in construction of
"Singu" and "Hmaw-gyi" dikes. Similarly, although the
construction of Mintha village was completed, the villagers in this tracts have still conscripted for another work-sites to
contribute free labour.
The
Work-duties in the Construction Sites
Before the construction started, the local commanders and
village tract leaders already received the detail numbers of households and population
of each village in every tract. Therefore, they could know how to share the
work-duties to all village and depending on how large
of dike to be built, the local military commanders and village tract leaders
could decide how many pieces of works should they share to what village after
their discussion. When the pieces of works were too much, like construction of
"Singu" and "Hmaw-gyi" dikes, the battalion commanders who
were taking responsibilities for the dike constructions decided to take
villager labourers not only from one village tract that the dikes are situating
but the villagers from another village tracts nearby.
Because of widespread condemnation against the tatmadaw for
its use of forced labour in the whole country, the commanders are always
avoiding the matters that they are directly ordering the rural village headmen
to provide unpaid labourers to the construction sites. Normally, those
commanders just give instruction to the concerned village tract leaders and let
them issue the orders that instructing other villages in the tracts to send how
many labourers or to complete how many pieces of works. (See the order and
its translation)
Depending on the works in the construction, the sharing of
work-duties to the conscripts are also different. In
the dike processes, there were three different kinds of works to complete the
whole construction of dike. Normally, the clearance of embankment route was the
first work and the building of embankment and closing of streams were other works to complete the construction of dike.
Considerably, the second and third works were more harder
than the first work.
While the soldiers ordered the villagers to find the route
of embankment and then to clear it, they used all villagers as a group and let
them find the way and forced them to clear along the way. Or, for a long route
of embankment, they also divided into many pans after they found and set the
route, and let the villagers clear their own village responsible pan. Normally,
the work-duties to villagers were shared for all villagers who came from the
same village to clear same pans of route. Depending the households and
population in a village, the pieces of works were shared directly to village
headmen by military
commanders or
by village tract leaders. Sometimes, the commanders or village tract leaders
did not mention about the numbers of villagers they needed in
the construction, but
described the pieces of works and the set time to complete the works to the
respective village headman. So, the village headmen had to estimate the needed
villagers to complete the set works within the set days. During the construction,
the concerned village headman had to share pieces of works to his/her villager
again. So the villagers who came from the same village could work together in
the construction site and they could complete their village's pieces of
"works.
The
instruction order to construct the dike
Translation
(Burmese facsimile in original)
To
Chairman
Village Peace and Development Council
(Name of) Village
Date:
SUBJECT: To construct Kywe-tho-nyima dyke
With regard to the above-mentioned matter, according to the
instructions of LIB No. 273 battalion, your village is required to fulfil your
quota of which is 1,293 Lan (= the length of the embankment extended) or 7,756
feet. Therefore, you are herein informed in advance that your village will
begin do your quota from the 6th waning day of Thidingyut or
Remark: you must come and work on the set date without
fail.
Signed (U Than Ye)
When the battalion commanders conscripted the villagers to
build the embankment, they also gave pieces of works with calculation of
"Kyin" or instructed to complete some specific part of embankment.
For the village headmen who were ordered to complete the construction, they had
to share the work-duties to their villagers as normally defining how many kyins
of earth they had to dig and fill it in embankment. According to villagers who
have worked in Hmaw-gyi dike construction, they had to go and work in the
work-site for at least one week during constructing the embankment and had to
dig about 5 to 7 kyins of earth for embankment. In the valley area, because the
villagers have to climb more higher embankment, the village
headman
shared about 5 kyins pieces of works to one family of his/her village.
In some places the villagers had to climb to the embankment about 10 meters. In
the plain area, the villagers had to complete digging 7 kyins of earth
and fill it to the embankment. As the military planned to create rice farm
plots in one side of embankment, the villagers were instructed to dig earth
only in the side in which they planned to store water.
Most hardest work
in the dike construction was closing the streams. Whether the streams were
large or small, the closing of streams was hard. Before the construction
of pole walls in streams were started, the battalion commanders ordered
village tract leaders to instruct the concerned villages to cut trees and send
the needed poles to near streams. In October, 1998, when the local military
battalions were hum' up to build pole walls to close three streams in Hmaw-gyi
dike construction, the soldiers from LIB No. 408 also conscripted the villagers
in Natkyisin village tract and forced many villagers to cut trees and send wall
poles to Hmaw-gyi and Singu dike construction.
After the wooden poles were ready in the concerned streams,
the soldier forced all villagers to work in building water walls and then
filled earth between the two walls to get a strong embankment in the streams.
In some places, stream water was too deep and they could not complete the
building of water walls. According to villagers, in February, 1999, there were
some water walls remained to be built and because they could not complete
building during rainy season and have to wait for until the water level was
down and possible to build pole walls.
In building pole walls, the villagers had to immerse
in the water for many hours and the authorities did not share any specific
works for anyone to build these walls. They forced all men in the construction
to go in water and put poles and in some places where the water level was deep, the villagers had to connect many poles to reach to
ground. And they also had to hit the top of the poles to get more
deeper in the ground. Considerably, these work-duties were also hard for
the villagers.
Concerning to the work-duties in the construction-site, one
village from Pyin-gyi also explained as below:
"Generally, our villagers have to work especially in
Singu dike construction. I was
instructed by our village headman to work in this construction every month. Depending on works, I have to stay in the
work-site about one week or ten days or up to two weeks period to complete
work-duties. When the soldiers
ordered the villagers to clear the route of dike embankment, our villagers were
not ordered to work. I think, the nearest villagers
were forced to find the route and clear the foliage and bushes. When village headman instructed us to work
in the construction, we were ordered by soldiers to build embankment. We dug the earth and filled it in the route,
and build embankment. The embankment
was. about 15 meters in width and 3 meters in height.
After we fill earth, we also had to press and hit the back of embankment to be
stronger. Then, about 10 days later
after we returned from Singu village, we were instructed to cut trees
again. Each family had to cut about 20
trees and these trees must be with at least 1 foot diameter and about 6 feet
long. I spent about five days to get
all trees and another 5 days to send all trees to
Singu. Then, we were instructed again
to close river, called "Mayan-chaung". At that time, many small
streams were already closed by other villagers. There were many villagers from many
villages while we were building pole walls and embankment in Mayan river."
In conscripting the villagers, the nearest villages to
construction site had to work more than other villages because the soldiers
could come to their village easily and forced nearly all villagers to work in
construction without waiting villager round instructed by headman. For example, Hmaw-gyi and Kywe-tho-nyima
villagers were suffered more from the construction of these dikes. Sometimes, the soldiers based in their
villages who have responsibility to manage for dike
construction also arrested the villagers in the villages nearby, and forced
them to work unceasingly until the set works were absolutely completed. In
October, 1998, when the officials decided to build pole walls in Hmaw-gyi dike
construction, the soldiers arrested all villagers in Sinswe village and forced
them to work in construction, even though some returned from work-sites just
recently.
Appalling
Consequences in Construction-site
The villagers who were conscripted as labourers were not
supported with foods, shelters and medical care by the local battalions or
village tract leaders. Whenever the villagers went to construction sites, they
had to bring their foods, tools and cash to buy other supplement foods such as
vegetables, cooking oil, salt and others. For a villager who went to construction
site for one week period, they have to bring about 8 kilograms of rice and
1,000 Kyat cash to buy other supplement foods. Since the villagers have been
forced to work in various kinds of government infrastructure project sites,
almost have no enough foods to bring along with them or no cash to buy other
needed foods for survival. In any construction site, because of overcrowded
population and lack of pure water, the villagers could not get pure water to
make foods or use it as drinking water. Due to time limitation and no plan
adopted by government officials, the villagers did not build any latrine in
construction site and this situation also effected
used water nearby. Facing food-shortage and water-shortage problems have been
as common conditions in every construction site.
On the other hand, the working hours in almost construction
site are approximately 10 hours per day. These not include the cooking hours.
Normally, the villagers waked up about
Even during rainy season, the villagers were conscripted in
construction of Singu and Hmaw-gyi dikes. Since the villagers had to work in
these construction one to two weeks in these construction, they have very
little chance to work their own jobs. Normally, the villagers had to go
designated work-site in hurry and soon after they reached to work-site, they
had no time to build a proper shelters because the
soldiers forced anyone who reached to the work-site to build embankment or pole
walls as soon as possible. The villagers had to build very rough temporary
shelters by roofing with banana leaves but no walls. These shelters could not
protect rain in rainy season and cold snow during cold season,
that takes from November to February in
All different kinds of work in the construction were
normally hard enough if compared the villagers' own works in farms or other
places. In some valley areas, when the villagers had to build high embankment,
they had to make bamboo stretchers, put dirt in it and brought dirt to the top
of embankment surface. While they were building the pole walls to close water
from streams, the villagers had to stay for the whole day. And they also had to
submerge in the water to hit the top of the poles or to make sure that the
poles were put in order or not. Regardless of rain or hot sun, the villagers
could not take any rest and had to work full time under bad weather conditions.
The soldiers always guarded while the villagers were working. Some villagers
were also hit or beaten when the soldiers dissatisfied on their working
situation.
Because of shortage of foods and pure water, terrible
weather conditions, hard-works and improper temporary shelters, many villagers
have been very vulnerable to be suffered from various kind of diseases. During
the construction, there were many women and children working instead of their
husbands or fathers who had to work in farms and other day jobs to get income
or foods for families' survival. Thus, majority of women and children in
several work-sites have suffered from diarrhea, weakness, fever and other
diseases during they were working in the construction site. However, the
soldiers did not allow any sick patient to return without a substitute arrive
and replace with him or her. The village headmen had to take responsibility to
find substitute villagers to replace with the sick villagers. In addition, the
soldiers did not give any medicines or treat these patients, and but the
villagers had to help each other to buy medicines and treated the patients.
Other
Mistreatments by Government Troops During the
Construction
Traditionally, the villagers have been constantly
conscripted as labourers by forces and the community leaders, especially,
village headmen are always pressured by local battalions' troops to send
the exact number of labourers. Whenever the village leaders could not manage to
send the exact number of villagers to worksite, they must be dismissed by
soldiers and new leaders will be appointed to fulfill the requirement of local
battalions. In many cases, the village headmen were very often beaten by the
soldiers for their inability to manage and send villagers to the work-sites
instructed their commanders. As an example, a village headman from Kya-khataw,
Nai Win (42 years old) severely beaten by the soldiers from LIB No. 408 in the
third week of September. When the commanders gave an order to manage and send
villager labourers to Kywe-tho-nyima dike construction-site, he was away from
village and
brought his
sick sister to hospital. The commander angered to him and ordered his soldiers
to beat him as a punishment. The soldiers beat him with jungle-boots, gun-butts
and sticks for nearly half an hour and so he became conscienceless. His head was
broken and his back was severely injured. They also hit his stomach with gun
muzzles and so he got long-term inner injuries and he could not work any
hard-work more.
Because of mistreatment against the village headmen, some
also fled from their villages to NMSP, KNU and other rebel control area. And
the soldiers appointed new headmen and let them manage to send villagers to
construction. Considerably, the village headmen were always complicated to
arrange and send the poor villagers to work-site, because many of them had
their own jobs to work for survival. When they could not manage sending
labourers, some village headmen fled from villages together with villagers who
could not survive longer if they were in village. As an example, in second week
of October, Chabon village headman, who had responsibility to send villagers to
Kywe-tho-nyima dike construction, also fled with his villagers and then, the
soldiers also appointed new headman and instructed him to continuously send the
villagers to construction site. Similarly, the village headman in Paukpingwin
village also fled from village in October, 1998, after he could not manage to
send the villagers not only in dike construction sites but also to worksites
for the repair of Ye-Tavoy railway.
Similarly, the villagers were often mistreated during they
were working in construction site. The soldiers also guarded in the work-sites
and whenever they met any dissatisfaction against villagers, those were always
beaten. Verbal abuses, such as shouting and threatening was
a normal abuse against the villagers. Sometimes, they kicked the villagers with
jungle boots or gun-butts or hit with fists. In second week of November, 1998,
while the soldiers ordered the villagers to close a stream in Kywe-tho-nyima
dike construction, they also forced the villagers to submerge into water and
hit the poles. While the villagers were submerging into water, the soldiers
also dissatisfied on three villagers from Cha-taw village and beat them. One
villager was severely beaten and the soldiers also his left eye. As a result,
his left eye became blind.
On the other hand, although the villagers were sick in the
work-sites, they could not stop and continuously had to work in the
construction until the substitute villagers arrived to there. If they stopped
working, they could be beaten. Additionally, when the villagers faced
food-shortage problems, sometimes they also asked foods from soldiers. However,
no food was supplied to villagers. In November, a group of Paukpingwin
villagers faced food-shortage problems and they were not provided any food by
soldiers. After two days facing food-shortage, they also fled from worksite at
night time. The soldier also angered to them and tried to find them, also threatened they would kill if they met. But they
could escape from arrest and killing.
Because of threat, the villagers did not dare to stay in village and
fled to NMSP control area.
Constant Conscription of
Forced Labour and Related Sufferings of Local Community
During the construction these new dikes with purposes to
explore many acres of rice farms for army, the local military battalions forced
the villagers to serve various kinds of military services such as to be
civilian porters to carry ammunitions and supplies along military operations,
building barracks and etc.. At the same time, the villagers in these Ye and
Yebyu townships areas were also forced to repair Ye-Tavoy railway, such as
re-building embankment, laying stones and iron-rails on it and re-building
bridges along the road. (See The Mon Forum, Issue
No. 1/99, Report: The Conscription of Forced Labour on the Repair of Ye-
.
Following the constant conscription of forced labour in
both dry and rainy seasons or nearly round the year, the local villagers have
less time to work their own jobs to get income or crops. While the men went to
rice-farms or plantations, the remaining family members, women, elder persons
and children were required to work in dike and other constructions for the
local government battalions. Sometimes, the villagers did not know exactly when
the village headmen would come and instruct to go to construction sites, so
only women, elder persons and children were and, soon the order came to go
these construction sites, they could not wait for their husbands or fathers to
come back and themselves went to construction sites. If not, they could be
punished by soldiers, or the village headmen could be punished for his
inability in managing to share work-duties to villagers.
Because of limited time to work their own jobs and received
less and less income, the villagers, especially the poorest villagers in most
villages, have faced
more and more difficulties
for survival, if they stayed longer in their native. Thus, when many hundreds
of villagers escaped from conscription of forced labour, they abandoned their
native villages, houses and other belongings. Under this circumstance, the
population displacement has been widely occurred in the whole Tavoy district,
Tenasserim Division. During their displacement, many hundreds of villagers fled
into forests while some numbers also stayed in their own rice-farms and fruit
plantations. While they were displacing, they also lost general welfare that
they received in the village and they hid in fear. They relied with foods or
rice that they brought from their homes and forest products, but they could not
get any supplement foods such as cooking oil, fish-paste, salt and etc. The
villagers, especially children suffered from various kinds of diseases and
weakness, but could not receive any medical treatment during they were
displacing.
In the whole dry season, Burmese Army's several battalions
also have launched military operation to attack other rebel groups, except NMSP
which agreed for ceasefire with SPDC, to secure their infrastructure
constructions and multinational investments which situate in Tavoy district.
Due to these military operations, those displaced persons could not stay in a
place and have to move from one place to another. Sometimes, when the military
operation closed to them, they have to move more deeper
inside forests and after the soldiers went away, they moved out again.
In opposite, some villagers also moved to urban areas to
escape from forced labour and other abuses committed by government soldiers.
They also joined with their relatives in towns and stayed there temporarily,
and when the situation became better they would go back to their native
village. Normally, such displaced persons moved to towns or big villages close
to towns and they had no job and relied on their relatives in towns or those
big villages.
Similarly, many of them also moved into returned Mon
refugees resettlement camps which were established after the Mon refugees in
Until the end of February, 1999, the conscription of forced
labour in Ye-Tavoy motor road, railway and dike construction is continuous and
many hundreds of villagers have suffered from unceasingly use of forced
labourers in these constructions. Not only the soldiers and local government
authorities have forced the villagers to contribute labour in most government
infrastructure projects, every local battalions also
require frontline civilian porters in every military operation to carry
ammunition and food supplies for soldiers and base's permanent porters to make
foods and do other works in the respective battalion bases. Due to using of
forced labour, the villagers have limited time during December and January to
harvest their crops. Many villagers lost their crops during harvest season,
because they have to go to the work-sites or to be porters for soldiers. In a
very busiest situation, they have to work for military nearly three weeks in
one month and there is less time to do their own jobs.
Generally, both local battalions' unkind
treatment against local inhabitants because of their ethnicity and rebellion in
the area. In addition, the government attempt to control the area
and input of development infrastructure, have created unstable conditions for
the local community to make a living in area, as a result. However, the
suffering of these population in some part of