Photos of Internally Displaced People and Forced Relocation
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Photo # : Saw B—, age 50 (back, second from right), and his family, from xxxx village in xxxx village tract, northern Papun District. In October 1998 SPDC troops came to relocate his village and captured the whole family as well as some of the other villagers, totalling 16 people aged from 1 year to 67 years. They beat and interrogated Saw B—, then force-marched all 16 people to Mu Theh, an SPDC LIB #349 Army camp along the new Kyauk Kyi - Saw Hta road. The family was forced to settle there. For the first 3 months they were given some food, but after that they were told to find food for themselves. They were constantly forced to do labour making thatch, cutting and hauling logs and bamboo for the Army camp, and were forced to carry Army supplies to Maw Kyaw Ko at the top of La Lah mountain once every week. Every day the relocated villagers also had to send 3 people for forced labour sentry duty. While they were there, the Mu Theh villagers were selling some food to the people in hiding in the hills, and when the SPDC found out about this they executed village headman Pa Baw, who left a wife and two children. Eventually Saw B—’s family couldn’t bear the conditions anymore so they fled back into the hills, but they couldn’t dare go back to their village so they now live in the forest with other displaced villagers. This photo was taken in April 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher] |
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| Photo # : Abandoned house in Bu Tho township, eastern Papun District. This village was forced to relocate in early 2001, and the SPDC ordered the villagers to dismantle their house walls before moving so that passing SPDC patrols would easily be able to see if anyone is hiding inside. [Photo: KHRG researcher] |
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Photos # : Villages abandoned due to forced relocation, April 2001. Since 1997, the SPDC has forcibly relocated more than half of all villages in the plains east of the Sittaung River in Nyaunglebin District to SPDC-garrisoned sites. These photos, taken in April 2001, are from some of the 16 villages in western Mone township which KHRG has already documented as being relocated [see “Death Squads and Displacement” (KHRG #99-04, 24/5/99)]. Photo #B14 shows the abandoned schoolhouse in Ta Maw Ma village; Photo #B15 is from Yeh Kyo village; Photo #B16 shows the abandoned church in Ter Bpaw village; Photo #B17 shows the old school in Po Thaung Su village; and Photo #B18 shows Po Thaung Su village’s abandoned church. In most of these villages, there is nothing left but these buildings and whatever parts of their houses the villagers couldn’t take with them. More details on the forced relocation of these villages can be found in the report “Death Squads and Displacement” (KHRG #99-04, 24/5/99). [Photos: KHRG researcher] |
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Photos # : Coconut palms which SPDC troops cut down and
forced the villagers to cut down before forcibly relocating them from
villages in the Sittaung River plain, Mone township, Nyaunglebin District,
April 2001. All of these villages have been forced to relocate to SPDC-garrisoned
sites since 1997 (see description with preceding photos), and the SPDC
orders the destruction of anything which could be used as food by the
resistance forces or internally displaced villagers. Photo #B19 shows
the stumps of an entire coconut plantation cut down in Twa Ni Gone village,
and Photo #B20 is from Noh Htaw Hta village. Most of the destroyed
trees had taken several decades to grow. Villagers are also ordered to
dismantle their houses before moving so they cannot be used as shelter. More
details on the forced relocation of these villages can be found in the
report “Death Squads and Displacement” |
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| Photo # : An SPDC-garrisoned forced relocation site just east of the Sittaung River in Mone township, Nyaunglebin District, taken from a distance in April 2001. This particular open field site just south of Weh Gyi village is near the new forced labour vehicle road along the Sittaung River (the photo is taken from this road), and is now home to villagers from Lu Ah and some other nearby villages. More details on the forced relocation of the area villages can be found in the report “Death Squads and Displacement” (KHRG #99-04, 24/5/99). [Photo: KHRG researcher] |
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| Photos #: Villagers from northern Toungoo District who have been forced to relocate to the outskirts of xxxx village, seen at the relocation site. Over the past 3 years many villages have been forced to relocate here, and they are now used for forced labour portering supplies and building and maintaining roads for SPDC troops. They cannot go back to farm their own land, yet neither the military nor the authorities provide them with anything. They must now survive however they can, as day labourers or petty traders. [Photos: KHRG researcher] |
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| Photos # : After forcibly relocating villages in the xxxx area of eastern Papun District in the first part of 2001, SPDC Division #44 troops forced the villagers to fence themselves in, allowing only the one entry and exit point shown in Photo #B29. Their movements are now tightly controlled, and they are regularly called for various forms of forced labour by the Army camp. [Photos: KHRG researcher] |
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| Photo # : Villagers in xxxx village, Dweh Loh township, Papun District, work on a fence that SPDC Division #33 ordered them to make around their village in late April 2001. Most villages under SPDC control are now ordered to fence themselves in, leaving only one or two entry points and posting forced labour sentries on these at all times. [Photo: KHRG researcher] |
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| Photos # : xxxx village, Papun District. Officer Bo aaaa from SPDC LIB #30 ordered the villagers to build a fence around the entire perimeter of their village with only one entry and exit point. The SPDC forces many villagers to do this, supposedly to restrict the movements of resistance forces, though the main result is to restrict the activities of the villagers. [Photos: KHRG researcher] |