A Visit to Refugees on the Salween River

A KNU soldier at a checkpoint on the Salween River. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing/The Irrawaddy)

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

Ban Mae Sam Leap, Mae Hong Son Province — When you enter Mae Sam Leap, a Thai border village on the Salween River, you see a lively market area where goods are exchanged.

Located on the opposite side of the river is a Burmese government military post.

In this border area, the Salween River serves as a border line in northern Karen State in eastern Burma and Mae Hong Song Province in Thailand.

The river landing area is crowded with boats used to transport trade products. The village is crowded with Thai soldiers, traders, travelers and even Burmese soldiers who cross to the Thai side to visit and buy food and other supplies.

Mae Sam Leap is one of the border points where Thai-Burmese traders exchange goods. Before the Karen breakaway group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), split from its mother organization, the Karen National Union (KNU) in 1995, the exchange of trade goods was robust.

Border trade along the Salween River and Mae Sam Leap area dropped drastically because of repeated DKBA attacks against Karen villagers and KNU troops in the area.

In recent years, the trade activity has picked up again, in spite of continued military clashes.

It took about four hours riding in a long boat to reach the U Wei Hta refugee camp, also known Ei Tu Hta Zone 6.

During the ride, we passed deep jungle, huge trees and beautiful, secluded valleys, and we saw military posts of both government troops and KNLA soldiers.

The talk on the boat among local villagers was of a coming military offensive in September by junta and DKBA troops against the KNU

Arriving at Ei Tu Hta Zone 6, Saw T’kwel, the zone leader, briefed me on the camp and introduced me to a few villagers. One Karen schoolgirl stood out.

Thirteen-year-old Naw Taw Oo Paw said her father was killed by junta soldiers in her village of Kaw Tu Tun in Taungoon District in early 2006. She described her family’s 25-day trek to the border.

She and mother, and her three sisters, survived on boiled rice. She had one change of clothes. She slept on the ground at night with a piece of bamboo as a pillow, trees as her shelter and one blanket to fight off the cold.

They cooked only at night, she said, to avoid sending up plumes of smoke, alerting the junta’s soldiers to their whereabouts. They dried their wet clothes by the fire.

Her father was killed by government soldiers after they entered her village, she said.

“They did not bury his corpse,” she said, softly. “It was like killing an animal. I feel very sad when I think about it. I hurt because I don’t have a father like others.”

Starting to cry, she said, “Now my mother has to work to support us.”

Taw Oo Paw said her dream is to be a teacher so that she can help the many internally displaced Karen children whose lives have been interrupted by the junta’s troops.

She is among 4,000 Karen refugees who now live in the Ei Tu Hta camp, all driven from their village by government offensives.

Saw T’kwel said, “The refugees who come to the border because of these attacks have seen murders, lootings, extortion and force labor committed by the junta’s soldiers.”

The Ei Tu Hta refugee camp was established in April 2006 after major government offensives in Taungoon and Nyaunglebin districts.

If the anticipated September government offensive occurs, young girls like Taw Oo Paw will be joined by more of their fellow Karen children.

READ MORE---> A Visit to Refugees on the Salween River...

AH1N1 virus hits Thailand refugee camp

(DVB)–Four Burmese children living in a refugee camp close to the Thai-Burma border have been infected with the AH1N1 virus, according to a medical aid group working in the area.

According to Saw Nay Hser, chief of the Mae La camp hospital run by Aide Medical International (AMI), a three-old-girl was first confirmed with the virus on 2 August.

“She was showing symptoms such as coughing, sneezing and a high body temperature but we didn’t think she was infected with the AH1N1 virus,” he said.

Following tests by another medical group, the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, the girl was confirmed as the first to be infected in the camp.

Risk of the virus spreading in the camp is high, particularly so given the close proximity to one another that people live.

Since the first case was diagnosed, another three have been confirmed, all of whom are close neighbours of the girl.

“On the same day we had the test results, I went to the children’s house with other medical workers,” said Saw Nay Hser.

“They were not doing too badly apart from some coughing and sneezing. We are giving them treatments at their homes.”

He added that the families of the children infected with the virus have been advised not to go outside while neighbours were told not to go visit them. One of the children apparently had visited someone outside of the camp with her family before she fell ill.

About 50,000 Burmese refugees live in Mae La camp, and many are said to be worried that they will also catch the disease.

The camp’s authorities say they are doing as much as they can to distribute medicine and educate people about the disease. Tests are still being conducted to find out exactly how many people have been infected.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), so far 1462 people worldwide have died from AH1N1, with 177457 cases reported, although it warns that this figure is likely to be below the actual amount.

Reporting by Naw Noreen

READ MORE---> AH1N1 virus hits Thailand refugee camp...

On the Run

Most of the refugees at Mae Usu temporary refugee camp are children.
(Photo by Yeni/The Irrawaddy News)

By YENI
The Irrawaddy News

MAE USU, Thailand — "If there is peace again, we will go back to our village," says the 60-year-old Karen woman, Bi Mae, as she holds her 4-month-old grandson in her arms in a makeshift bamboo hut.

But she knows well that she may never see some members of her family again or return to her village in Karen State, which has experienced a brutal civil war for more than 60 years.

Just two weeks ago, Bi Mae and four of her grandchildren crossed into Thailand with more than 500 other Karen refugees, as gun fire echoed in the hills and news spread that the junta’s army was rounding up villagers for forced labor.

Since the beginning of June, fierce clashes between a joint force of the junta’s army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) engaged the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), forcing some 4,000 Karen villagers and internally displaced persons from Ler Per Her camp in Burma to flee to Tha Song Yang in Thailand’s Tak Province for safety. Many refugees are also secretly living with friends along the border, but the exact number is impossible to determine.

Refugees are living at six sites. The Irrawaddy interviewed refugees crowded into the grounds behind a Thai ecotourism site at Mae Usu cave, only a few kilometers inside the Burmese-Thai border.

"Right now 1,998 people are on the list here. Most of them are women and children,” says Chaklo, a member of the Karen Youth Organization (KYO), one of the community-based organizations helping refugees.

To help support the refugees, the Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), an alliance of NGOs working for humanitarian relief, has distributed rice, beans, fish paste and salt, while the French NGO, Solidarit?s, provided water and sanitary facilities. The UNHCR has provided plastic sheets and tarpaulins for the shelter.

However, torrential rains have been falling for many days, making life even more difficult. At the camp’s makeshift clinic—supported by Dr. Cynthia Maung, and her Backpack Health Workers Team—many patients receive treatment for serious gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea and dysentery that are common ailments in the rainy season. Children in the camp are particularly at risk, according to the medics. Some children sleep in the bamboo huts while others play on the muddy ground of the green fields.

"They need to learn,” said Chaklo. “We also are ready to do that. But the Thai authorities don’t want us to set up a school here because the site is temporary."

Traditionally, the Thai policy is to start out with a short-term solution to aid new Karen refugees. While there is fighting on Burmese soil, the authorities grant the civilians permission to cross the border. But if there is no fighting, the refugees will be sent back to Burma. Presently, there have been no further reports of fighting after the withdrawal of KNLA troops from their military bases.

But there are ongoing reports of abuses by DKBA forces—forced recruitment, forced labor and money/food/livestock extortion—causing more people to flee and cross into Thailand. As a result, the refugees, for now, have been allowed to remain.

On July 9, Tassana Vichaithanapat, the director of the Foreign Affairs Division of the Operations Centre for Displaced Persons in the Ministry of Interior, visited one of the new sites, Nuh Bo.

During his visit, he met with refugee representatives, Thai district-level authorities and military officials and urged the authorities and international agencies to continue to provide humanitarian support while the Thai government tries to find a durable solution or until the displaced people are able to return to their homes, according to the TBBC.

Also, the Tha Song Yang district committee, which includes military, border police and UNHCR representatives, met on July 15 to consider possible solutions: an immediate return to Burma, relocation to Mae La refugee camp, or to open a new refugee camp at the site where the refugees are currently staying.

"Finally, they agreed that the refugees should stay where they are until the end of the rainy season. At that time, the security and humanitarian situation will be reviewed again to determine the next steps," said Angelina Sakic, a TBBC Program coordinator. "But the most likely outcome is that if the situation has not improved, they will be moved to Mae La camp."

In the meantime, most refugees hope to return to their village as soon as possible. Many are traumatized, thinking of their crops and the livestock they left behind and how it could all be destroyed or confiscated by the junta’s soldiers or DKBA troops.

Some men have left their family in the camp and crossed back to their village to determine if their possessions are intact. Their lives are at risk because Burmese soldiers and DKBA troops control the area.

"If they see them, they will shoot,” says Chaklo. “They think maybe they are KNLA men burying landmines. We hear the sound of gun fire everyday."

READ MORE---> On the Run...

Ragtag rebels vow to fight on in Myanmar

Orphans are having to fend for themselves at a makeshift
Thai camp after joining some 4,000 refugees fleeing a fresh
offensive by Myanmar's military against ethnic Karen rebels.

by Claire Truscott Claire Truscott

ON THE THAILAND-MYANMAR BORDER (AFP) – They prowl their jungle battleground in sneakers and have to steal their weapons, but Myanmar's ethnic Karen rebels say they will never quit their struggle against the junta.

The ragtag Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has been fighting Myanmar's military government for 60 years -- marking the country's eastern border as the stage for one of the world's longest running conflicts.

But a renewed crackdown by government forces in early June caused 4,000 of the mainly Christian Karen to flee to neighbouring Thailand, the largest group of refugees to cross in more than a decade, aid groups say.

The offensive comes as Myanmar's generals try to stamp out the last of the more than two dozen ethnic uprisings that have riven the country since shortly after independence in time for elections due next year.

Despite the overwhelming firepower against them, the KNLA say they will not quit.

"We never give up," said David Tharckabaw, a former soldier with the KNLA and now a leader of the political wing, the Karen National Union (KNU), based in a secret location on the Thai-Myanmar border.

"Yes, this is an asymmetric conflict, but overall we can still carry on."

In video footage AFP received from the Democratic Voice of Burma, a multimedia agency run by Myanmar expatriates that uses the country's former name, KNLA soldiers are seen fighting in rolled-up jeans and t-shirts.

A small guerrilla group rearms their rocket-propelled grenade launchers in the dense scrub -- Tharckabaw said most these weapons are stolen from government forces in raids because the KNLA obtains only sparse funds from logging and by levying cross-border trade taxes.

"We are operating on a shoestring so we rely heavily on guerrilla tactics and we have to be mobile and cause as many casualties as possible on the enemy," Tharckabaw told AFP.

"That's through ambushes... what we call 'battle of annihilation'," he said.

The struggling fighters are often forced to carry a week's worth of food, he said, as they attempt to take advantage of their superior knowledge of the tough terrain.

Some are based in their home villages while others are in camps for people internally displaced by the fighting in Myanmar, like one at Ler Per Her in eastern Myanmar's Karen state, where several mortars fell last month as it became the focus of the most recent offensive by the junta.

Inhabitants living nearby were forced to flee to uncertain refuge in Thailand and residents said they had been told they must work as minesweepers and porters for government forces.

Despite his belligerent talk and, in a sign that the strength of the rebels is waning, Tharckabaw, 74 -- who joined the KNLA aged 14 -- said they now actively discourage new recruits because they are more of a burden on resources than a help.

The Karen's struggle began alongside Myanmar's other ethnic minority groups seeking greater autonomy the year after British colonial rule ended in 1948.

General Ne Win, the dictator who seized control of the country in a 1962 coup, sought to crush the ethnic insurgencies with a "four cuts" policy: choking supplies of "food, funds, recruits and information" by razing villages.

It is a tactic that is still employed today.

"People have been writing off the KNU for years but unfortunately for people caught up in the middle of this, it could dribble on for quite some more time," said Myanmar analyst David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch.

He said the Karen rebels are probably at their lowest ebb militarily, while the junta's forces have gained in strength thanks to the defection to its side of a breakaway Buddhist faction of the largely Christian KNLA.

Myanmar's rulers now hope to use the defectors -- known as the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA) -- as part of a national border defence force ahead of the 2010 elections, said Zipporah Sern, head of the KNU.

"They (the junta) try to push the DKBA to attack the KNLA base camp... they use their tactics in a tricky way to persuade them (not to rejoin the rebels)" said Sern, who also spoke to AFP from a secret border location.

This sort of "divide and rule" strategy leaves no doubt that the fight must continue, says Tharckabaw, although he adds that the KNU are willing to talk with the authorities.

"We are always ready to negotiate and we have been there five times already, but they say you have to lay down arms first. But who would? Where's the trust?" Tharckabaw said.

READ MORE---> Ragtag rebels vow to fight on in Myanmar...

Neither War Nor Peace -

by Luke Dowdney

international comparisons of children and youth in organised armed violence

Download full book here

Neither War Nor Peace

READ MORE---> Neither War Nor Peace -...

Human trafficking in Burma ‘a major problem’

(DVB)–Human trafficking within Burma remains “significant”, whilst trafficking of young women into forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation is a “major problem”, according to a US state department report.

The Trafficking in Persons report cited statistics released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that estimate that at least 12.3 million people worldwide are in forced labour, bonded labour or commercial sexual exploitation.

Many Burmese women and children are being trafficked to Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Korea, China and Malaysia, the latter two often for forced marriage.

Within Burma, however, the problem was “significant”. Trafficking of girls for the purpose of prostitution “persisted as a major problem, particularly in urban areas”, and was seen to drive Burma’s reputation as “a destination country for child sex tourism”.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the phenomenon as “modern slavery” that “weakens legitimate economies, fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, shatters families, and shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress.”

The report also highlighted the ongoing phenomenon of forced recruitment of children into armed ethnic groups and the Burmese army, the latter largely as a result of increasing cases of desertion of adult soldiers.

The recruitment of child soldiers is often seen as a means of maintaining the Burmese army’s troop levels, with children often bearing the brunt of its frequent recruitment drives.

“The military junta’s gross economic mismanagement, human rights abuses, and its continued widespread use of forced labor are among the top causal factors for Burma’s significant trafficking problem,” the report said.

Complainants of forced labour are ostensibly protected under the ‘supplementary understanding’ agreement the ILO has with the Burmese government, although in 15 of the 152 cases reported to the ILO since 1997, the organization has received information alleging harassment or reprisals by government authorities.

Earlier this month the ILO called a revision of a clause in the Burmese constitution that justified use of forced labour “in duties assigned by the Union in accord with the law in the interest of the public”.

In 2002 Human Rights Watch named the Burmese government as the world’s leading recruiter of child soldiers.

The US report did note however that the regime had made “significant efforts” with regards to tackling commercial sexual exploitation, although overall the government “is not making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking”.

Reporting by Francis Wade

READ MORE---> Human trafficking in Burma ‘a major problem’...

Serious Violations against Children in Burma: Ban

By LALIT K JHA
The Irrawaddy News

WASHINGTON — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday reported grave violations against children in Burma including credible reports of recruitment and use of children by some government military units and several ethnic armed groups.

Expressing serious concern over the plight of Burmese children, the secretary-general in a report to the UN Security Council urged the Burmese military government to put into place a tighter mechanism to prevent the military recruitment of children.

Ban also urged the junta to demobilize unconditionally all children who participated in any capacity in its armed forces, in coordination with the UN country task force on monitoring and reporting.

“The secretary-general stresses the need for the governments concerned to facilitate dialogue between the United Nations and the Karen National Union and Karenni National Progressive Party for the purposes of signing an action plan in accordance with [relevant] Security Council resolutions,” Marie Okabe, deputy spokesperson for the secretary–general, told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

In the report, Ban urged Burmese authorities “as a matter of priority” to “redress the prevailing culture of impunity, to launch investigations into all incidents of recruitment and use of children, and to prosecute people responsible for such acts under the Penal Code.”

“Building on the limited progress thus far, the government should, with immediate effect, cease the arrest, harassment and imprisonment of children under the age of 18 for desertion and/or attempting to leave the army and continue to work with the country task force to monitor such cases and to ensure the swift and unconditional surrender of children,” Ban said.

Besides government military units, the secretary-general identified several ethnic armed groups involved in recruitment of children: the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Kachin Independence Army, Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council, Karen National Liberation Army, Karenni Army, Karenni National People’s Liberation Front, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State Army-South and Shan National Population Liberation Organization and United Wa State Army.

Ban noted in the report that there was a continued lack of humanitarian access to Burma, particularly in conflict zones and ceasefire areas, was an impediment to providing much needed humanitarian assistance. He urged the junta to ensure full, unhindered and safe access for children and to allow free passage for the delivery of UN humanitarian assistance in all parts of the country.

READ MORE---> Serious Violations against Children in Burma: Ban...

Child Street Singers

By AUNG THET WINE
The Irrawaddy News

RANGOON — The three kids are sitting in a circle under a street lamp near Yankin Market in Rangoon. Their clothes are worn-out, filthy and wet with sweat. It is almost 8 pm and the street corners are dark.

A 14-year-old boy wearing a dirty white cap beats out a rhythm with two sections of bamboo, while his 12-year-old sister sings "I've Learnt to Love with You," a popular song by rock singer Zaw Pai. Singing in a high-pitched voice, she holds a baby girl in her arms. A dirty milk bottle lies flat on the pavement beside her. The third girl, an 8-year-old, is counting the money they have earned that day in a side bag.

These children sing for much more than their supper. (Photo: Aung Thet Wine/ The Irrawaddy)
The girl’s voice is filled with weariness. Her sorrow and hunger can be heard despite the romantic words of the song.

"Uncles, Aunties, please help us. Please give us some food, your leftovers. Please give us some money for food. Please," she begs after her song. A 500 kyat note and a couple of hundreds float down from the high-rise apartments. The three rush out to pick them up.

They are just three from a multitude of destitute orphaned children surviving on their wits or perishing in a near absence of social welfare under the Burmese military regime.

The boy introduces himself as Nay Lin and his sister as Zin Mar. The baby girl in her arms is Nu Nu Htwe, their cousin. The young girl who collects the money is called Htet Htet.

"We haven’t even got 3,000 kyat yet, so we can’t go home. Perhaps we’ll get home before 10 p.m." Nay Lin explains. Instead of staying at home with the prospect of going to school the next day, they have to wander the streets looking for food.

The children have lived with their 80-year-old grandmother in a poor quarter of Southern Dagon satellite town ever since they lost their parents. They managed to learn to read and write, but now they have no money for school anymore.

"She is just five months old. Her mother, my elder sister, died a month ago. My grandma can't keep her at home, so we have to bring her with us when we go out to beg," Zin Mar said.

The infant is feeble and skinny, and she is sucking her thumb hungrily. She looks sick. Her eyes are inflamed and yellowish.

Zin Mar picks up the milk bottle and puts it into the infant's mouth. Nu Nu Htwe starts impatiently sucking some brownish liquid from the bottle.

"I feed her with tea, ovaltine and Red Cow brand baby milk formula, if I can, but I can't feed her unless we get enough money for food," Zin Mar said.

"I've been singing on the street since I was young. I was just a lone singer, then," Nay Lin said, explaining how started on the streets. He said he left home on the outskirts of town before 10 in the morning, and he usually returned around 9 p.m. I would sing and beg from city dwellers and passers-by the whole day.

"We have nothing for breakfast when we leave home. When we have earned 500 kyat from begging, then we can have breakfast. I frequently eat Mon Hin-Gar (a kind of Burmese vermicelli). It only costs 100 kyat from street vendors. Some families give us a pack of food for lunch or dinner. If we don't get food, we have to buy it ourselves. Sometime we have nothing and go without," Nay Lin said.

Their grandmother is senile and ill, and she is suffering from hypertension and arthritis, the children said.

"We go home if we get 4-5,000 kyat for a day. This is enough for food and a little medicine for grandma. But we are really worried about the baby. She can't eat solid food like us, so we have to earn some money to buy her tea or milk powder," Nay Lin said.

They leave on foot to beg for their keep come rain or shine. Walking on Rangoon’s streets, they sing the most popular songs by famous rock singers, such as R. Zarni, L. Saizi, and Zaw Pai.

"I learn these songs at tea shops, and when I get back home I practice singing them. I often sing L. Saizi songs. The ladies are crazy about him," Zin Mar said.

There is no rest day, and in the rainy season begging becomes more difficult as many areas become near impassable. On such days the children collect vegetables growing naturally in ponds and fields and sell them in the market. However, selling vegetables barely earns enough for them to eat.

Although he begs on the street, Nay Lin remains determined in his ambition. "I want to be a singer, but not on streets. I want to be a singer and have my own concerts," he said.

READ MORE---> Child Street Singers...

Unknown Fever kills 3 children in Karen State, many others sick

By Kon Hadae, IMNA

Villagers in Hpa-an Township, Karen State are getting fevers, reported a resident of Jong Hpie Village.

“At least 3 children [in most houses] didn’t get up in Jong Hpie village [because of their sickness]. This year many children have fevers,” said the resident.

Another Jong Hpie villager estimated that, “half of our villagers have had fevers.” He added that, though no one had died in his village, the situation may be worse in Kayar Village. “I heard in their village 2 or 3 babies have died and many other villagers are sick.”

Though the fever has also attacked the elderly villagers in Khayar, it has been especially bad for the children. “[In] the last two days, children have died,” said a villager from Kayar, who was unsure of the number.

A similar fever (one which children are especially susceptible to) seems to have spread to Zar Ta Pyin, also of Karen State, according to a Zar Ta Pyin villager.

Though it is not certain the exact type of fever experienced in Karen State, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported on May 26th that children in Pago Division have contracted Dengue Fever.

READ MORE---> Unknown Fever kills 3 children in Karen State, many others sick...

Seven year old girl raped in Maungdaw

by Nyein Chan

Dhaka (Mizzima) – A seven-year old girl belonging to Kyaukle village in Maungdaw Township in Burma's western Arakan state was raped on May 7, local residents said.

Local residents said that the minor girl from Kyaukle village, about six miles from north of Maungdaw, was raped at about 7 p.m. on the way back to her house after buying medicines for her ailing father.

"She went to a nearby drug store to buy medicines for her father. When she reached the dark corner of a school, she was gagged and dragged to the nearby forest by a soldier and raped," a local resident from Shwesar block of Maungdaw told Mizzima.

A relative of the victim, talking to Mizzima, said a search was conducted after the girl failed to return home on time. She was found in the nearby forest, about 300 yards from a school, at about 2 a.m. (local time).

"When she didn't come back home on time, the girl's family informed their relatives and then began searching. We started to search for her at about 10 p.m. She was found unconscious in the nearby forest," the local said.

The girl has been admitted to a hospital and is under treatment.

"She was admitted to the hospital only on Friday [a day after the incident] and was unconscious for about a day. Now she has regained consciousness and is out of danger," a staff from Maungdaw hospital said.

The girl, after gaining consciousness, said the perpetrator might have been a soldier from the nearby garrison engineer’s unit stationed at the school, a relative told Mizzima.

Maj. Kyi Aung from Maungdaw Township, Aungbala village based No. 6 Border Inspection and Command (Na Sa Ka) visited the scene of the crime and investigated. But the culprit has not yet been identified, a source close to border security forces also known as the Na Sa Ka said.

"He [the major] visited the school in Kyaukle village where the soldiers were stationed on May 10. But he has not been able to identify the culprit yet", he said.

The garrison engineer’s unit is from Sittwe based Garrison Engineer Battalion and they have been sent to erect border fencing.

Na Sa Ka’s regional commander told the girl's parents not to report the incident to senior officials and promised to pay some money for medical expenses and as compensation, the source close to Na Sa Ka said.

Bangladesh-based, Burmese news agency 'Narinjira' reported a similar case which said an army officer raped a girl from Thri Konbaung village in Maungdaw Township last month.

Reported: 11 May 2009

READ MORE---> Seven year old girl raped in Maungdaw...

Rights violations along 180-mile gas pipeline shocking, ongoing, says new report

Mon Son and Blai Mon - IMNA

“Pervasive human rights abuses” are occurring along an extensive overland pipeline in southern Burma, says a report released by a rights group yesterday. Rape, summary execution, forced labor and other abuses are the deliberate, predictable result of the pipeline, says the group, as is the confiscation of almost 15,000 acres of land.

The report, released by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), deals with the government-owned Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay pipeline, which branches off the Yadana gas project in Tenasserim Division. The Yadana project has received intense international criticism for its role in rights abuses; the consortium of international energy companies who control it have been sued in 3 countries, with one investor pulling out.

According to HURFOM, abuses along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay pipeline are comparable in type, though not in scale, to those documented in relation to the Yadana project; at 183-miles, the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay pipeline is more than four times longer than the 40-mile Yadana project.

HURFOM organizes abuses documented in the report into two broad categories. In the first, the group argues that a threefold increase in Burmese army deployments to the area since is “fundamentally due” to the pipeline.

“The predictable result of deploying large numbers of soldiers and encouraging them to extract what they can from the countryside, without oversight,” says the group, is a “raft of abuses.” According to the group, these include: 12,000 acres of land confiscation for barracks and army agriculture projects, forced labor, 62 incidents of rape and the commandeering of food and property.

In the second category, abuses along the pipeline are also a “deliberate, calculated part of the pipeline security effort” in which “battalions seeking to protect the pipeline from insurgents do so largely by targeting civilians.” According to HURFOM, this has entailed travel restrictions, forced relocation, and 68 incidents of torture and summary execution involving more than 600 victims.

Also related to pipeline security, HURFOM says it has confirmed that residents of more than 40 villages – including children as young as 12 – are required to work as forced laborers maintaining and guarding the pipeline. More than 2,400 acres of land, meanwhile, have been confiscated to ensure the pipeline’s route can be easily patrolled.

Making clear just how “ongoing” the abuses really are, a press release distributed to mark the report’s publication notes that, in just the last week, HURFOM has documented the summary execution of one villager and the burning of 36 homes. “In both cases,” says the release, “the army committed the abuses less than a mile from the pipeline.”

On the other side of Burma, meanwhile, construction of another pipeline is just beginning: in late March, Burma and China agreed to transport gas from the Shwe gas fields 1,200 miles overland to southwestern China.

Win Aung, coordinator of the Shwe Gas Movement, which opposes the project, says abuses like those documented by HURFOM have already begun. “The number of army battalions have already increased in the area,” Win Aung told IMNA today. “Human rights violations happened when the government started this project – and they are still happening.”

“They have not started building the pipeline yet. But they have to make the way clear for the pipeline – so villagers have to work as forced laborers clearing brush and digging.” These abuses are just the beginning, says Win Aung.

“According to what I see in the HURFOM report, these kinds of human rights violations – forced labor, torture, etc. – will happen in the Shwe Gas area. And the Shwe Gas pipeline is much longer than the pipeline to Kanbauk.”

READ MORE---> Rights violations along 180-mile gas pipeline shocking, ongoing, says new report...

Right Group Focuses on Burmese Children

By THE IRRAWADDY

A US-based human rights advocacy group, the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, called on Wednesday for the UN Security Council to protect the tens of thousands of children "who are raped, abducted and recruited as soldiers" in Burma.

The group has released a 60-page study, “No More Denial: Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Myanmar (Burma),” to mark the first anniversary of Cyclone Nargis that hit Burma in May 2008 and "to draw urgent attention to the plight of children who have been subject to heinous violations of their rights every day since the cyclone and for decades prior."

The report documents killing and maiming of children, child soldiers, rape, abduction, forced displacement, attacks on schools, denial of humanitarian access and other violations. It also charged the UN Security Council with remaining largely silent despite evidence from UN and local sources of these violations.

According to the report, children as young as nine constantly face the threat of forced recruitment by security forces, non-state armed groups and civilians, even in public places such as bus or train stations and markets.

"Approximately one in five children in the eastern conflict areas dies before reaching the age of five, often due to denial of humanitarian assistance and medical treatment by the Myanmar authorities. This rate is comparable to some the world's deadliest conflict zones, including Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan," the report said.

The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict was formed in 2001 by a group of leading human rights and humanitarian organizations in response to the need for improved monitoring and reporting on violations against children. Today, these organizations form Watchlist's international Steering Committee.

—CARE International
—Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
—International Save the Children Alliance
—Norwegian Refugee Council
—Women's Refugee Commission
—World Vision International

Last month, the Annual Report of the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict was released. It reported that the Burmese military regime’s army and nine armed ethnic groups are still recruiting child soldiers.

The report accused both the Burmese junta and an array of armed ethnic groups, including ceasefire groups and active anti-government forces, of continuing to engage in the practice of recruiting child soldiers.

READ MORE---> Right Group Focuses on Burmese Children...

Down and out parents are driven to sell children, but concerns about trafficking arise.

WCRP (Rehmonnya): In April 2009, Ma Mi Aye, who has been struggling economically after a series of family tragedies, had to sell her daughter to another family for 30,000 kyat (28 USD) in, Pa-An Township, Karen State,

According to a source who spoke with Ma Mi Aye, age 21, “My husband was killed by strangers and my mother was in the hospital. My family is very poor and we couldn’t afford to pay her medical bills. So I had no options until I sold my 1 year and 3 month old daughter for what I hoped would be 50,000 kyat.”

Ma Mi Aye (whose name and town have been changed for security purposes) from Kyaikto Township, Mon State lost her husband when strangers killed him during the 2009 water festival for an unknown reason.

“It was very long journey to get to Pa-An Township and I have walked the whole day and night to get here” a source quoted her as saying, “I would be very happy if someone could adopt my daughter in exchange for 50,000 kyat, and take care for her as if she were their own since I do not have any money to feed her.” Ma Mi Aye came to Pa-An because it would be too painful to see the girl every day with another family in her own village.

Upon hearing Ma Mi Aye’s story a family from Pa-An Township felt sorry for her and adopted the girl, however only for the price of 30,000 kyat. Additionally they required her to sign an agreement stating that in exchange for that money she would relinquish all her rights and familial connection to the child.

While being forced to sell her daughter has brought a great deal of sympathy to Ma Mi Aye’s plight, some villagers suspect that if she were to sell her own child, she could conceivably steal another person’s child and try to sell that too, to make additional money.

This instance of selling a child because of financial hardship is not singular. Over the past several years instances of families trying to sell their children so they can survive has been on the rise. Recently its been reported several women from Kyaikto Township have been coming to another near by village to sell their children in this year alone. However no witness could confirm they were in-fact from Kyaikto Township, or that the children being sold were their real children.

Some villagers in the area suspect these sales come from a group of women working together selling children that are not theirs. While there have been no reports of missing or kidnapped children, sales have been on rise and will occur between 3 months to sometimes half a year.

According to the villager from Pa-An Township, Mi Khaing Khaing, said to the WCRP, “My father has been trying to adopted a 3 year old child, but he been rethinking this plan after he became afraid that the children who are being sold might have been kidnapped form their legitimate families.”

READ MORE---> Down and out parents are driven to sell children, but concerns about trafficking arise....

Can All Monks Be Trusted?

The Burmese people respect their monks more than their government,
but some suspect the monks have been infiltrated by informers

"some people practice their Buddhism by giving.
They are the true Buddhists.” Burmese source

There is time for play. Novices are boys, after all. Photo: RFA/Tyler Chapman

By Tyler Chapman

RANGOON (RFA)—Every morning, just after sunrise, they stream out of the monasteries across Burma, alms bowls in hand.

The monks of Burma are the bedrock of the nation’s Buddhist heritage and traditions, symbolizing the charity, one person to another, that underpins Burmese society.

Awaiting them on the streets of every city and town are people young and old, rich and poor, with food for their bowls. The monks are barefoot, indicative of their avowed poverty, and so are those who donate, as a gesture of their humility and reverence.

It is a scene that has played out through the centuries, timeless in its rhythm and grace.

I have witnessed this act of sharing many times, and it always impresses me how much more respect the Burmese have for their monks than for their government.

Monks lead protests, relief efforts

There are an estimated 400,000 monks in Burma, about equal to the number of troops serving the military regime that has ruled for 47 years, and most are far from reclusive pacifists.

“If you want to know what’s going on in Burma,” a friend once told me, “ask the monks.”

Indeed, it was the monks who led the so-called Saffron Revolution of September 2007 in reaction to the government raising the price of gas. The revolution was snuffed out when troops opened fire on the demonstrators, killing at least 31, and rounded up the protest leaders and sympathizers. Many of them are now in prison serving life sentences.

And it was the monks who rallied the early relief efforts when Cyclone Nargis hit in May of 2008, leaving 140,000 people dead or missing. The government lagged far behind.

Now, however, there are suspicions that the government has put informers even among the monks, to head off any more protests and to root out monks encouraging dissent.

“You don’t know which monk is ‘real’ and which monk is ‘fake,’” a friend told me.

Fear evident among monks, too

In my previous visits to Burma, monks would approach foreigners like me with complaints about the junta. This time, that didn’t happen.

In Mandalay, when I asked an otherwise friendly monk about the political situation, he changed the subject. He wanted to talk about the price of computers. I took it as a measure of the fear that now permeates Burma: Keep your mouth shut for your own well-being.

Even so, the time-honored flow of Buddhist tradition transcends government oppression.

Spring in Burma brings the school holidays and, with them, the time for young boys to be initiated as novice monks. Almost every day, in big cities and small towns, I saw the festive processions celebrating this major transition in a boy’s life.

His family will save the hair shaved from his head, and the boy will don the robes of a novice and join the monastery to learn the basics of Buddhism. All his worldly possessions are left behind.

Younger boys will stay a few days, older boys two weeks. Poor families sometimes leave their sons longer, when life in the monastery is better than at home.

Good deeds offer some hope

A gong will awaken the monks and novices at 4:30 a.m. They will have breakfast, pray, and then take their alms bowls to the streets to collect the food, mostly rice, for their midday meal. Local restaurants often donate meat and vegetables.

Volunteers do the cooking and, in many cases, most of the cleanup.

After noon, there will be no more food for the monks until breakfast. Afternoons are spent resting and studying. Darkness brings bedtime. Monks sleep on mats on the floor.

The monasteries provide a haven not only for monks and novices but also the needy, the sick, and the homeless. They are community centers and meeting places.

I visited a monastery outside Rangoon that had taken in 160 children, most of them orphans from Cyclone Nargis.

The monastery was looking after a mother and daughter until the daughter could get medical help for unexplained seizures. Like most other monasteries, it exists on the charity of donors, one of whom was building a dormitory for the children.

“Some people practice their Buddhism by giving,” one of my friends said. “They are the true Buddhists.”

At pagodas around the country, there are bells for people to ring, three times, to announce they have done a good deed.

Buddhists believe that good deeds in this life—“making merit”—will put them in good stead in their next life, that despite an uncaring government and economic hardship, there is a chance for something better.

For the Burmese, being able to ring the pagoda bell three times offers the hope they need to persevere.

Tyler Chapman is a pseudonym to protect the author's sources. This is his second visit to Burma for Radio Free Asia.

21 April 2009

READ MORE---> Can All Monks Be Trusted?...

Murder near China-Burma border being linked to child trafficking

(DVB)–Locals in a Chinese border town have said there could be a link between a young Burmese boy found murdered on Monday and increased incidences of child trafficking on the China-Burma border.

Nine year-old Myo Ko Ko and his younger brother went missing on 27 March after begging on the streets of Jiang Phong in China, near the border with Burma. Myo Ko Ko was found with his hands tied and fatal head wounds.

“The corpse was found by the bank of Ruili river near the bridge,” said an eye-witness.

“His mother said they were collecting drinking water bottles.”

Chinese authorities are questioning other children begging on the street, another resident said, adding that police believe it was fellow Burmese beggars who were responsible for the murder.

The same day the corpse was found, however, police from Muse, a town on the Burmese side of the border where Myo Ko Ko’s parents live, seized two children who had been kidnapped from nearby Lashio, he said.

This has led to suspicions that Myo Ko Ko’s death is also linked to trafficking.

“Now that the trafficking of adult girls is becoming harder due to intensive arrests, the sales of children are becoming very profitable," the resident said.

The director of Thailand-based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, Aung Myo Min, said there has been an increase in child trafficking on the China-Burma border.

“This kind of thing used to be abundant on the Thai-Burma border,” he said.

“But as the fight against child trafficking inside Thailand had increased [along with] an increase in protection among the public, child trafficking moved to the China-Burma border.

Aung Myo Min pointed to the deaths of tens of thousands of children during the 2008 China earthquake as perhaps being part responsible for the rise in child trafficking.

“In order to fill this gap, a new market emerged for adopting other children, some suggested, so and it needs to be dealt with seriously," he said.

“The reasons why children are stolen and trafficked these days are the lack of concise and firm prosecution, and bribe-taking among people responsible.

Chinese and Burmese officials were not available for comments. (JEG's: hiding under the table boys?...)

Reporting by Naw Say Paw

READ MORE---> Murder near China-Burma border being linked to child trafficking...

Burma blocked aid supplies - report

By JOE HUMPHREYS
Irish Time

THE UNITED Nations Security Council should refer Burma (Myanmar) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the manner in which it blocked humanitarian relief efforts during last year’s cyclone in the country, according to an independent inquiry into the episode.

A report, framed around extensive interviews with relief workers and survivors, says the government’s “systematic obstruction” of relief aid, penalisation of minority ethnic groups and use of forced labour in reconstruction could constitute crimes against humanity.

The report, published today by a group of leading international healthcare experts, says the Burmese government had been more concerned about forcing through a referendum on an authoritarian new constitution on May 10th last year rather than dealing with Cyclone Nargis, which struck eight days earlier, killing 140,000 and affecting 3.4 million people.

“The data reveal systematic obstruction of relief aid, wilful acts of theft and sale of relief supplies, forced relocation, and the use of forced labour for reconstruction projects, including forced child labour,” the report states.

“The slow distribution of aid, the push to hold the referendum vote, and the early refusal to accept foreign assistance are evidence of the junta’s primary concern for regime survival and political control over the well-being of the Burmese people.”

The report, After the Storm: Voices from the Delta , is jointly-authored by the US-based Centre for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Emergency Assistance Team (EAT), an umbrella group of health care workers which helped an estimated 180,000 survivors without the approval of the Burmese government. Among the 90 relief workers and survivors interviewed was a physician who said he had to flee the country when the military started asking questions about his connections with external relief agencies. Another relief worker said the government refused to give aid to Christian minorities “because they know they may be helped by Christian organisations”. The report says there is evidence of “multiple human rights violations and the abrogation of international humanitarian relief norms and international legal frameworks for disaster relief”.

These could constitute crimes against humanity, it says.

Burma Action Ireland said European members of the UN Security Council should request an immediate ICC investigation.

READ MORE---> Burma blocked aid supplies - report...

Burma cyclone response was 'crime against humanity'

By Thomas Bell, Telegraph UK - South East Asia Correspondent

Burma's regime deliberately blocked international aid getting to victims of last year's cyclone, a report has claimed.

Survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Burma did not receive donor money they were promised to rebuild their lives Photo: AFP/Getty

The first independent inquiry into the aftermath of the disaster has said the authorities should be referred to the International Criminal Court for stopping help getting through and persecuting survivors.

It found the Burmese leadership failed to provide adequate food, shelter and medical care in the wake of Cyclone Nargis which struck the Irrawaddy Delta on May 2 last year, killing at least 140 000 people.

Around 3.4 million people were effected by the disaster, which swept away homes, farms, granaries, livestock and wells.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in America and an organisation of Burmese volunteers called the Emergency Assistance Team – Burma (EAT) have documented what happened in the following weeks.

Military checkpoints were set up across the delta as the regime treated the disaster not as a humanitarian emergency but as a security crisis.

The report claims some people who attempted to distribute private aid were arrested. It details allegations of aid being stolen and resold by the military authorities.

The researchers also claim the army used forced labour, including of children, in the aftermath of the disaster.

According to one survivor: "[The army] did not help us, they threatened us. Everyone in the village was required to work for five days, morning and evening, without compensation. Children were required to work too.

"A boy got injured in his leg and he got fever. After two or three days he was taken to Rangoon, but in a few [days] he died."

There were also anecdotal accounts of people dying in the aftermath of the cyclone due to the actions of the army.

But restrictions in the country mean no one has been able to estimate how many died in a supposed "second wave" of deaths in the period after the cyclone.

Under international law, creating conditions where the basic survival needs of civilians cannot be adequately met, "intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health," is considered a crime against humanity.

The report concludes that the United Nations Security Council should refer the junta for investigation by the International Criminal Court.

READ MORE---> Burma cyclone response was 'crime against humanity'...

29 children suffer from physic nut poisoning

Rangoon (Mizzima) – Twenty-nine children from State Middle and Primary Schools from Thaketa Township in Rangoon Division, suffered from food poisoning after eating physic nut seeds, according to the Township Education Officer's Office.

Twenty nine students from the State Primary Schools No. 41, 22 and State Middle Schools No. 1 and 7 ate dried physic nut seeds after school in the evening on Jan 28. They picked these dried seeds from physic nut plants grown in their school premises.

"There are 29 students and the rest are from outside. Most of the children are students of State Primary Schools No. 41, 22 and State Middle School No. 7. Most of the students are from SPS No. 41. They ate these dried nuts after school. They suffered from uneasiness and vomiting. That's all," an official from Thaketa Township Education Officer's Office said.

A student's mother told Mizzima that she saw the children suffering from diarrhea, and when asked, they replied that they had eaten dried physic nuts. Several children in the neighborhood ate those nuts on that day.

"We realized that the children from almost every household in our ward were suffering from food poisoning, when many children visited the nearby clinics. Their blood pressure was too low at 50/30 mm Hg when they reached the clinic. The doctors put them on a drip in Thaketa and another 3 bottles of medicine were given to them in Rangoon Children's Hospital. Now they are much better," she said.

The dried physic nuts are rich in taste and the children think they are edible. They picked the dried seeds from the plants and ate together, a 4th Grader student said.

"We were given these seeds by our friends living in 1st Lane. We tasted it and found it had rich taste. Then I picked a (polythene) bagful of the nuts and shared them among our friends. Then we suffered from uneasiness and vomiting," he said.

The children were admitted at local clinics and Thaketa Hospital. Some critical patients were admitted at the Rangoon Children's Hospital on the same night. Most of the children were admitted at the local Thaketa Hospital and were discharged the next day.

"All the children were discharged from the hospital and are back home. They are feeling much better. Those, who were admitted at Rangoon Hospital, were also discharged. Our Director General himself visited them on Sunday. Their condition has improved," an official from the Basic Education Department said.

There are two types of toxins in physic nuts. The symptoms of physic nut food poisoning are nausea, uneasiness, stomach pain, low blood pressure and exhaustion with continuous diarrhea. The condition of such a patient will normalize if proper treatment is given within 48 hours, a leading doctor from Rangoon said.

Similarly, 2 students from SPS No. 38 suffered from physic nut food poisoning in the end of last year. They had to take medical treatment for two days.

There were 27 physic nut food poisoning cases in 2007 and 69% of them were school children.

Under the fuel self-sufficiency scheme, the government has launched nationwide physic nut plantation projects since December 2005.

Reporting by Mizzima correspondent in Rangoon and written by Phanida

READ MORE---> 29 children suffer from physic nut poisoning...

Child Labor Widespread in Delta

The Irrawaddy News - Child labor has become widespread throughout the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta, according to sources in the region.

A member of a non-governmental organization in the delta who requested anonymity said that children aged 10 to 15 are valued sources of labor for Burmese businessmen, fishermen and farmers, because they work for much lower wages then adults—between 300 and 1000 kyat (US $0.25—0.85) per day for children, compared to wages of 1,500 to 3000 kyat ($1.25—$2.50) per day for adults.

A young boy works with a fisherman in the Delta region. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)A young boy works with a fisherman in the Delta region. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)
“Many fishing boat owners now prefer to hire children because of the difference in wages. Kids are willing to work for 300 kyat and meals,” he said.

Sources said that businesspeople in the delta also see children are easier to control and hard-working. Nowadays, children as young as eight can be found working on fishing boats, in restaurants, construction sites and with agriculture.

Myo Min lost his mother when Cyclone Nargis slashed through southwestern Burma on May 2-3. He now lives with his brother and works full-time aboard a fishing vessel in the delta.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, 10-year-old Myo Min said, “I’m tired, but I’m just grateful to be able to survive.”

Mending nets instead of studying at the school. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Po Po, 11, lost his father and his elder brother in the cyclone. He then left school to work in a restaurant in Labutta Township. He washes dishes and earns about 5,000 kyat ($4.20) per month.

He admitted that he cries every night because he misses his mother.

According to a schoolteacher in Konegyi village in Labutta Township, many children are unable to continue their education because they are orphans or live with families that are struggling economically.

An estimated 400,000 children did not return to school after the cyclone, according to leading relief agency Save the Children Fund. Of those, Save the Children said they helped about 100,000 children get back to school.

The INGO estimated that about 40 percent of the 140,000 people who were killed or disappeared in the cyclone disaster were children. Many who survived were orphaned or separated from their parents, the agency said.

READ MORE---> Child Labor Widespread in Delta...

10-year-old girl raped by ex-soldier in Ye Township

By HURFOM

(Rehmonnya) WCRP: A ten-year-old girl in Han Gan village, Ye Township, was raped by an ex-soldier in December. The ex-soldier is under arrest after he escaped and was re-captured at the railway station in Ye Town.

The victim was staying at the perpetrator’s house along with approximately 50 other students attending evening tutoring sessions with his wife. On December 14th, the wife left to visit her parents in Moulmein. The children, unsure of whether she would return in time for the lesson, came to the home anyway to study and then sleep.

According to an account published by the Independent Mon News Agency, the ex-soldier picked the young girl up as she slept, carried her to his room, covered her mouth with his hand and raped her. The next day, he came to the victim’s home to tell her to attend the evening class again, though he kept his wife’s continued absence a secret.

The girl told no one of the incident at first, but her grandmother grew suspicious after the young girl acted strangely and appeared afraid of the perpetrator. “After I found out I immediately informed the Han Gan village Peace and Development Council and demanded they arrest and put him [the perpetrator] in lockup,” a WCRP source who spoke with the grandmother quoted her as saying. “However, he escaped from lockup but was again arrested and is in jail now.”

According to the WCRP source, the girl was taken to the hospital the next day, where doctors confirmed that she had been raped. “My girl was sent to the hospital for one day and doctor told us that she will be ok soon,” the WCRP source quoted the grandmother, who added that she is receiving free treatment.

The girl and her 3-year-old brother live with their grandparents because their mother and father are away working in Thailand. “Her parents don’t know yet and the grandparents dare not to tell to them. They feel ashamed and took her out of the school,” said the WCRP source. According to the source, the girl was an outstanding student in grade four. Last year, she won a second place prize for being an exceptional student and was aiming for first place this year.

The perpetrator, who is ethnic Burman, lived in Han Gan village because his wife is posted there as a government school teacher. He left Light Infantry Battalion No. 586, based in Kayen Kapo village, one year ago.

READ MORE---> 10-year-old girl raped by ex-soldier in Ye Township...