Resources – Page 23 – Chin Human Rights Organization

AFP: Myanmar abusing Christian Chin minority: rights group

Myanmar abusing Christian Chin minority: rights group

Jan 27, 2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gjqP4j378-lhdyHqhCHKPcFUSEXQ

BANGKOK (AFP) — Myanmar’s military regime is committing widespread abuses against the mainly Christian Chin ethnic group, who face famine, forced labour, torture and persecution, a rights group said Wednesday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said tens of thousands of Chin flee across the border to India only for many of them to be forcibly returned home, violating their right to refuge under international law.

“For too long, ethnic groups like the Chin have borne the brunt of abusive military rule in Burma,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, referring to Myanmar by its former name.

“It is time for this brutal treatment to stop and for the army to be held to account for its actions. India should step forward to protect those desperately seeking sanctuary.”

A new Human Rights Watch report carries accounts from Chin describing torture and beatings by Myanmar soldiers, arbitrary arrest, being forced to work as army porters, and having to give their food to troops.

“The Burma army arrested me,” a Chin man who fled to India told the group.

“They tortured me and put me in jail for one week. They beat me on my head and ears — I still have a hearing problem. Then the army forced me to work at road construction and repair the army camp.”

The mistreatment compounds the misery in impoverished Chin state, the report said, which is already facing food shortages after farmlands were destroyed by a massive rat infestation.

Myanmar is home to at least 135 ethnic groups, a handful of which have armed factions fighting for independence.

The Chin, 90 percent of whom are Christian, account for about one percent of Myanmar’s 57 million people and live in the mountainous region near the Indian border. The Chin National Front (CNF) rebel group is still battling the junta.

Amy Alexander, a Human Rights Watch consultant, said anyone suspected of links to the CNF was targeted, while religious suppression was also rampant in Chin State, the only predominantly Christian state in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

“The military government regularly interferes with worship services… and also destroys religious symbols and buildings,” she told a press conference.

The report — featuring interviews carried out between 2005 and 2008 with about 140 Chin mostly living in exile abroad — also documents abuses by the armed wing of the CNF.

Human Rights Watch called on the CNF and Myanmar to end all abuses and demanded that India offer protection to Chin who cross the border and allow the UN refugee agency access to them.

“For a lot of Chin who are returned, they are at risk of arrest, imprisonment, torture and death … There are very severe consequence that happen when people are forced to return to Burma,” Alexander said.

VOA: Human Rights Watch Calls for Aid to Burma Refugees in India

Human Rights Watch Calls for Aid to Burma Refugees in India
By Ron Corben
Bangkok
28 January 2009
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-01/2009-01-28-voa19.cfm?CFID=191416924&CFTOKEN=96322755&jsessionid=883046d56014548ac26a11525c111d259417

Rights group, Human Rights Watch, is calling for India to provide access to the United Nations to assist up to 100,000 Burmese ethnic Chin who have fled persecution and poverty in Burma. Human Rights Watch accuses Burma’s military government of wide-ranging rights abuses in Chin state.

A Human Rights Watch report is calling for Burma’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, to halt ongoing human rights abuses against the ethnic Chin – a largely Christian community living in western Burma.

The three-year investigation of those who had fled persecution and are living in India, Thailand, and Malaysia said Burma’s military regularly imprisoned ethnic Chin to stifle political dissent.

Chin state is one of Burma’s most remote and poorest regions, bordering India’s Mizoram State. Official access to the border regions in Mizoram is restricted by the Indian authorities.

Amy Alexander
Amy Alexander
Report researcher and writer Amy Alexander says abuses by Burma’s military had gone largely under reported.

“Human Rights Watch has documented widespread killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and mistreatment, forced labor, reprisals against the opposition, restrictions on movement, freedom of expression and religious freedom, as well as extortion and confiscation of personal property,” she said.

Cases cited included those of political prisoners, their hands tied, being hung from ceilings and beaten with sticks. Later cloths were placed over their faces and they were dunked into water until they lost consciousness.

Over the years up to 100,000 Chin have fled into India’s Mizoram state, where they are at risk of discrimination and abuse by local groups and deportation to Burma. A campaign in 2003 lead to 10,000 Chin being sent back to Burma. Human Rights Watch says those people who are sent back often face detention and even death.

Sara Colm
Sara Colm
Human Rights Watch Senior Researcher Sara Colm said about 4,000 Chin have trekked 1,600 kilometers to New Delhi to seek refugee status.

“We have people fleeing really repressive human rights situations in Burma to India and there is no access to them by the UNHCR,” she said. “We are calling today for pressure to be brought to bear on the Indian government to allow United Nations officials access to the border regions of Burma on a permanent basis and not force asylum seekers to have to make the long trek down to New Delhi.”

The director of the Chin Human Rights Organization, Salai Bawi Lian Mang, welcomed the report.

“I hope it will mark a great impact and it shows how serious the situation in Burma is,” he said. “In Chin State people suffer religious persecution – 90 percent of Chin is Christian and then the Burmese Government has been systematically persecuting Chin Christian for the past two decades.”

The report called for the Association of South East Asian Nations, European Union, and the United States to increase pressure on Burma to improve humanitarian assistance to the Chin.

WA Today: Flower that leads to famine

Flower that leads to famine

by Jewel Topsfield

WA Today

http://www.watoday.com.au/national/flower-that-leads-to-famine-20090220-8dr1.html

February 20, 2009

ONCE every 50 years a species of bamboo flowers in the Burmese state of Chin, heralding the beginning of a famine.

This sounds like the stuff of myth, the first line of a fairytale told to wide-eyed children around the campfire. But it is a well-documented freakish natural disaster, known as “mautam”, which also affects states in north-eastern India.

Victor Biak Lian, from the Chin Human Rights Organisation, who is in Australia to raise money for the latest famine, says that when the bamboo flowers, it produces seeds that rats eat. “These rats multiply so fast and there is a rat plague,” he says. The rats then devoured the rice crops in the isolated, mountainous region, leading to famine.

The last time the bamboo flowered was in 1958 — leading to famines in Chin and the neighbouring Indian state of Mizoram — with previous occurrences in 1911 and 1862.

Mr Lian says the bamboo began flowering at the end of 2006. A report by the Chin Human Rights Organisation last year said up to 200 villages were directly affected by severe food shortages and about 100,000 — 20 per cent of the Chin population — were in need of immediate food aid.

In Melbourne there are about 1400 Chin people, a Christian ethnic minority group persecuted by the Burmese military junta. The local community helped organise the Chin Live Aid Concert at the Box Hill Town Hall last Saturday that raised money for the bamboo flower victims.

Concerts, featuring Burmese and Indian singers, will also be held in Adelaide tonight and Perth next Saturday night.

Mr Lian, who fled Burma during the 1988 uprising and now lives in exile in Canada and Thailand, will also go to Canberra next week to lobby the Federal Government to raise awareness about the famine and push for a democratic system in Burma. “We strongly believe Burma needs a federal system in which all the different ethnicities are able to survive,” he says. “If we go on as it is, ethnic groups will be wiped out because of the Burmanisation policy, which is to make one language, one religion.”

BANGKOK POST: No refuge on the southern border

No refuge on the southern border

Reports of organised human trafficking and extortion by Malaysian immigration officials, while Thailand turns a blind eye, are too credible to ignore.

By: Erika Fry

BANGKOK POST: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/15714/

Published: 26/04/2009 at 12:00 AM

It’s hard to know when a nightmare truly begins, and while caught in its grim unreality, when it will ever end.

Lian (not his real name) is a 25-year old ethnic Chin man who fled his home in Burma out of fear of the military in September, 2006. He had been a truck driver, but often encountered Burmese soldiers who demanded – regardless of his duty to deliver the day’s haul – that he drive them places. One day, he was taking some soldiers to a village when he ran out of petrol. The soldiers believed he had done so on purpose and they broke his windscreen and beat him, leaving a scar still plain to see above his left eye.

Lian’s story was made available to Spectrum by Amy Alexander, an advocacy officer with the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) who interviewed him. According to the case study, Lian was taken to an army camp and his ID was confiscated. When he was released, the soldiers’ goods had been stolen from his truck and they blamed him for the loss.

Lian fled and came to Thailand, where he couldn’t find a job and where an agent told him he should go to Malaysia to claim refugee status with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Thai refugee camps do not register ethnic Chin, and have not officially processed new refugees for several years.

He went to Malaysia and sought out the UNHCR office, but a security guard there turned him away for lack of documents. Despite visiting the premises every day for two weeks, he never figured out how to get access to a UNHCR officer.

He was arrested a year or so later in a 3am immigration raid, put barefoot on a lorry and sent to a detention centre where detainees were not given fresh clothes and told they could only drink the bath water.

One night a month later he was taken with a busload of 73 other refugees and migrants to the Thai-Malaysia border. Immigration officials took them to a jungle area where a handful of brokering agents who spoke Malay and Thai were waiting in cars.

The group was told these agents had already bought them from the immigration officials and they were packed under blankets, 15 to a car, and driven 15 minutes to another jungle area, this time in Thailand.

Here there was a big tent with more agents, patrolled by several guards with guns. They were told, “If you can get money sent to us, then we can get you where you need to go. If not, you’ll have problems.”

Lian could not immediately get the money (the agents call relatives or contacts of the refugees and migrants and arrange a transfer), and so he spent six days in the camp in which he was beaten, underfed and kept in the tent.

He eventually reached a friend in Kuala Lumpur who was able to transfer the necessary 2,000 RM (19,600 baht) to the agents’ account that night. With that, he was free to leave, and an agent led him and a group of 13 others back into Malaysia on foot. They were climbing over the border fence into the country when they were intercepted and drew fire from Malaysian border guards. They scattered in the jungle and regrouped the next morning. The agent had left them and the group was soon picked up by a vehicle that took them to a police station inside Malaysia.

They were put back in detention, this time in a facility that held 300 people per cell. Lian was shuffled to a few other detention centres before he was again deported to Thailand three months later. This time the immigration bus took 93 people to the border in the dark of night.

“When the immigration bus stopped, four agents came out from the jungle and met the bus. The authorities opened our handcuffs and told us to follow the agents,” said Lian.

The agents walked them through the jungle until they reached a large river, where a boat was waiting. They were ferried across the river to yet more agents, who separated them into groups of those that could pay, and those that couldn’t.

Lian called the same friend, who promised to pay the 1,900 RM and in the same way he had come to the camp, he was shuttled back by agents to Kuala Lumpur.

Lian now lives in fear in the jungle on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. He has a Chin refugee card, but as yet no documentation from the UNHCR, which has temporarily closed its registration for refugees, and no immediate hopes for resettlement.

THE REVOLVING DOOR As exhausting, costly and unfortunate as the story of Lian’s asylum-seeking journey is, his experience of being bounced around borders and cycled through prisons and detention centres is by no means atypical among the many refugees and migrants from Burma that seek better lives in Thailand and Malaysia.

And also apparently common, though not well publicised, are cases in which migrants and refugees in the hands of Malaysian immigration officials experience extortion and trafficking at the Thai-Malaysia border. In most cases the refugees and migrants buy their way back to Malaysia by arranging the payment of the agent’s 1,200 to 2,000 RM (11,800 to 19,600 baht) ransom fee. When they can’t find the money or the friend to make this payment, they are reportedly sold to Thai fishing boats, brothels, and factories.

While human rights and ethnic Burmese community-based organisations, as well as a handful of media outlets in Malaysia have documented these cases for years (they refer to the Thai-Malaysian border as “the revolving door”), the allegations have never prompted more than staunch denials by Malaysian authorities and complete disregard from their Thai counterparts. Some analysts say the issue has never received significant attention in Thailand because of the turbulent environment in the nation’s South.

Monitors of the situation are hopeful that this will soon change, thanks in part to the release of a report prepared for the US Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations – Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand – earlier this month.

The report, which is based on a year-long investigation and which involved a number of personal interviews similar to Lian’s case study, alleges that Malaysian officials have been complicit in the extortion and human trafficking of a few thousand Burmese refugees at the Thai-Malaysian border. Investigators also found many cases in which migrants had been sexually assaulted or had their rights abused during the arrest/detention/deportation cycle.

While the report does not directly implicate the involvement of Thai officials, it does suggest a sizeable, well-established network of human traffickers operates rather unabashedly, and in cooperation with Malaysian officials, along Thailand’s southern border. Activities documented in the report centre around the Thai border city of Sungai Golok and Malaysia’s Kelantan state, as well as Padang Besar in Malaysia’s Peris state.

Those familiar with the report say it focuses mainly on Malaysia, because the information that prompted the investigation came from Burmese populations and human rights organisations in Malaysia.

Phil Robertson, a researcher on migration in Southeast Asia who has studied the issue, said, “What this is pointing out is something that has evidently been going on for a long time.”

He adds, “I was told two years ago by UNHCR staff in Malaysia that there were persons of concern [refugees] that had files and they disappeared for three or four years. They’d come back and tell these stories. I’ve met fishermen in Mahachai that speak of jungle camps ringed in barbed wired and men with guns, and being sold to fishermen.

“This is not something new. It’s only new that the international community is finally turning attention to this longtime lawless border.”

He says it is now the obligation of the Malaysian and Thai governments to act on the report.

“Malaysian immigration officials and RELA [Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia, Malaysia’s 500,000-strong civilian immigration corps, which has the power to investigate and arrest all suspected illegal immigrants] are directly implicated in selling people. This is criminal behavior and it warrants being investigated and prosecuted.

“While the Thai side gets less focus in this report, it takes two to tango. At minimum, the Thai government must mount an impartial investigation into the holding of these vast numbers of people. To not do so would be complicit in trafficking.”

He adds that “both countries have good, clear anti-trafficking laws. The culture of impugnity must come to an end.”

Information collected by investigators, and which has been forwarded on to law enforcement agencies, paints an absurdly complete picture of the criminal network. Details provided to the committee during interviews, previously published in media and NGO documents, and includes names of persons to whom the ransom payments were allegedly made; payment locations in Malaysia and Thailand; bank account numbers to which extortion payments are deposited; locations along the Thailand-Malaysia border where migrants are reportedly take by Malaysian officials; and the identification of people allegedly involved in the trafficking of migrants and refugees.

The agents are believed to be Thai, Malay and Burmese of a variety of ethnicities. In some reports, refugees at the border were sorted according to ethnicity.

Victims include Burmese refugees and migrants of numerous ethnicities including Chin, Rohingya, Shan and Mon who come to Malaysia to seek work or UNHCR documentation for third-country resettlement. Most are arrested in large-scale, late night raids conducted by the RELA. The organisation has been described as fascist and in the past members reportedly received a bounty for each arrest they made. In many cases, refugees have had their UNHCR documentation discarded and personal property confiscated or lost completely.

LIVING IN FEAR Malaysia does not recognise refugees, but it does allow the UNHCR to operate in the country to process and resettle them. Accordingly, many refugees from Burma take the risk of travelling to Malaysia in the hopes of reaching the UNHCR before immigration officials reach them. As of January 2009, there were 27,000 “persons of concern” from Burma registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia; it is believed there are at least 30,000 more waiting to be processed.

“It still happens that people with documents, and within weeks of resettlement, will be rounded up and deported. What’s ironic is that Malaysia is hostile to refugees that are trying to get out of Malaysia,” said Ms Alexander of the CHRO, who in addition to Lian interviewed a number of Chin refugees that have experienced the arrest/detention/deportation cycle. She noted that it is also common for employers to hire migrants and then call in RELA for a raid a few days before their scheduled payment.

Once arrested by RELA, the migrants and refugees (children too) are generally detained in facilities with overcrowded and generally poor conditions. Deportation to a “jungle camp” at the Thai-Malaysia border usually follows several months later.

As for the policy logic behind the deportation of Burmese refugees to the Thai border, Mr Robertson said, “these structures and systems are only as sophisticated as they need to be. The fundamental issue was that someone wanted to get these people out, and somewhere along the way, people figured out how to make money off of it.”

Unsurprisingly, these activities have only exacerbated the economic hardship and considerable level of fear migrants and refugees face.

When migrants cannot pay their ransom fees, families are split apart and sold to different industries. Little is known about the fate of the children at the border.

Another woman Ms Alexander interviewed who had been deported with her young daughter was told by agents: “Do you want to die here or do you want to be sold to a Thai night club? If you want to stay here, you will be the only woman and there is no guaranteeing what can happen to you.”

Because of these ordeals, migrants and refugees in Malaysia live in fear – often hiding in the jungle or barely leaving their of homes – because of the country’s peculiar immigration policy.

To help cope with these problems, Ms Alexander says migrants and refugees living in Malaysia have formed highly organised communities and networks of support that can be mobilised and try to scrape together sufficient funds to free a community member who gets caught up at the border.

She is hopeful the US Senate committee’s report will provide an impetus for a sustainable solution to their problems.

“Right now, Malaysia is still issuing denials and insisting these are just the lies of international governments. But the accounts are credible – there are just so many. This is so systematic, it has happened so many times, to so many people.”

While Malaysian officials responded defensively to the US investigation and denied all allegations, there has recently been a turnover in Malaysia’s immigration ranks and a police investigation into the matter was reportedly launched on April 1.

Even so, the raids continue. Ms Alexander received word earlier this week that another 300 refugees and migrants had been arrested and detained earlier this week. Among the group are pregnant women, a number of children, and UNHCR documented asylum-seekers.

The Royal Thai Police did not respond to requests for information pertaining to this article in time for publication.

This is the first part in a series about human trafficking of Burmese refugees and migrants at the Thai-Malaysia border.

NEWSTRACK INDIA: Chin suffers from inadequate access to protection in India

Chin suffers from inadequate access to protection in India
By Nava Thakuria
NEWSTRACK INDIA: http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/82978
New Delhi, Tue, 07, April 2009

The Chin people of Burma, who are living in the Indian capital, suffers from less access to humanitarian relief and services by the local government and also the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in New Delhi.

In a new report released today, the Chin Human Rights Organization finds that Chin people seeking protection as refugees face prolonged wait-periods in extremely poor conditions with very little access to humanitarian relief.

The CHRO has appealed New Delhi and the UNHCR to ensure that Chin in Delhi have access to expedient and fair protection mechanisms as well as basic human necessities.

“So many Chin in Delhi live in deplorable conditions- without jobs, without basic amenities, without access to social services,” said Salai Bawi Lian Mang, executive director of CHRO adding “In fact, the Chin are refugees in desperate need of protection, but it takes years to gain protection by the UNHCR. Meanwhile, the Chin are living on the bare margins of society in Delhi.”

Currently, the estimated Chin population in Delhi is 4,200- the largest asylum-seeking population from Burma living in Delhi.

Sixty-six percent of the Chin community are unemployed and those who are employed typically work 10- to 12-hour days for less than Rs. 70 (US$1.35) per day. Illnesses are common and access to affordable and quality healthcare is limited. More than half of those Chin who died in 2007 and 2008 succumbed to easily treatable and preventable health problems, such as diarrhea, stated in a statement issued by CHRO from California.

Mentionable that, hundreds of thousands of people of Chin were forced to leave their homes in the Burmese province to escape from severe ethnic and religious persecution of the military regime. They arrive in India in search of security and the hope of enjoying basic freedoms. Currently, some 75,000 to 100,000 ethnic Chin from Burma are living on the India-Burma border State of Mizoram.

As UNHCR has no access and provides no protection to the Chin population living in Mizoram, the only available means of protection in India is to travel some 2,400 kilometers to Delhi. Due to the significant distance and expense of this trip, only a small minority of the Chin population in India is able to make it to Delhi. As of December 2008, the population of Chin in Delhi numbered 4,200.

Although UNHCR supports several programs to provide for and improve the welfare of the Chin community, many of these programs are inadequate and ineffective to meet the community needs. Access to such programs is limited to UNHCR-recognized refugees and more than half of the Chin community in New Delhi are not eligible to benefit from such programs.

1998 Reports on Forced Labour

60 TIMES A PORTER FOR THE BURMESE ARMY IN 1998

Mangte (name changed),a Chin villager from Saek village, Falam township of Chin State, had served as porter for 60 times in 1998. Other villagers also served as army porter as he did. He said: “Most of the time we had to carry chicken, pork, foods and house-wares that the army had looted from the villagers.” Interview with a Burmese army defector

1999 reports on Forced Labour

Forced labour

Major Khin Maung Ye, LIB 266, ordered the three villages: Saikah, Ruakhua and Ruabuk to present one person per family with their own tools and food in reconstructing road between Sopum and Sihhmuh village. The villagers have started reconstructing the road since 23rd September because they did not dare to resist the order. As most the Chin people are farmers they have no time to work in the fields.Escape in fear of arrest: Hre Ling and Sui Ceu had escaped to Bualpi village, Mizoram State of India when a troop led by Major Khin Maung Ye came to arrested them. The army accused them to be supporters of CNF. Later on, friends and relatives send their families to them on September 8. Sui Ceu has 4 children and Hre Ling has 5 children. They said ” It is not easy for us to depend on friends for our living in Bualpi”.

SPDC USED FORCED LABOR TO REPAIR ROAD

1. (Date of receiving report: 30th September 1999)

On 25/9/1999, Burmese army Company 3 Commander of 268 Battalion stationed at Tibual Camp, Falam Township ordered 20 villages along Falam-Rihkhawdar road to repair the road (which extends up to the Indian border). (See attached order)The number of laborers from each village ranges from 15to 30 depending on the size and the population of the village. They had to bring their own tools and ration for three days. They were not paid for their labor. The soldiers warned them that any village that failed to contribute “unpaid laborers” will be considered supporters of CNF, and that severe action will be taken against them. No village dare nor defy the order.

( Order Translation )

Impression of round seal of the 268 Light Infantry Battalion Company 3
Date 24/9/99

To Chairman

Village Peace and Development Council
Hnathial village (Old)

Subject: Invitation for ” voluntary labor”

Regarding the above subject, you are hereby informed that you organize 15 adult men from your village to volunteer for the reconstruction of the motor road between Falam and Rihkhawdar, which was damaged as a result of erosion and heavy landslide during the monsoon. The heavy downpour had also caused flood that damaged bridges. Led by yourself, 15 volunteers from your village have to bring hoes, shovels,saws, harrows and other tools, which will be required for the road construction. You also have to bring rations for three days during your work. You have to reach Hmunthar village to notify yourselves by 28 September 1999. Defaulter village will be considered as active supporters of CNF and severe action will be taken for defiance of order.

Sd/-Company Commander

A new army camp in Lentlang

The villagers around Lentlang are now facing problems, as they do not have 800 kyats to give Myo Kyaw, the commander of Battalion 268, Company 2,based in Falam, Chin State. He made an order throughout the area that one person from each family must see him or pay the fine in his camp which he ordered the villagers to build on September 1, 1999. Many of the villagers were too busy to see him timely, as it was the crucial period for their farm works.

MEETING FOR VARIOUS KINDS OF WORKS

Captain Min Zaw, Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 55 (Ngapali battalion), No.3 company commander, based in Arakan State, took a position as camp commander of Shinletwa, Paletwa Township, Chin State on July 25 1999. On Sunday of 1st August 1999 he summoned a meeting of 9-village tracts in the area. Knowing the fact that Chin people are Christian and observe the Sundays, the army personnel intentionally summoned a meeting and forced the villagers to serve as porters on Sundays. In the meeting, they ordered villagers to build a house for the army at the center of every village around Shinletwa. The 9-village tracts to be completed within one month. In addition, they ordered villagers to deliver(4′ by 2′) mat and 8-pieces (18′ by 6′) of woods to build woodenboxes to the army camp before the end of September without fail. The commander fixed the price of chicken at 300 kyats per viss (about1.5 kg, actual price for one viss of chicken is Kyat 750). They ordered the villagers to deliver only hens since those are tastier than cocks.Capt. Zaw Min also restricted the villagers not to sell rice anywhere except to Sinbowah and Sinletwa villages where there are army camps. Rice is the sole commodity of the farmers for their earnings. He also made a restriction that no household in the village should sell rice more than three times ayear. The soldiers depend freely on the rice of the villages whenever they go for patrolling. Capt. Min Zaw made an order that 18 people, two each from the 9villages, must be reserved to serve the soldiers. Six villages have to serve, in a routine-wise, in the army camp for 7-days a week for emergency needs and to serve as porters. The villagers who serve in the camp have to bring their own food. The commander announced that anyone missing in the camp would cause a fine of 1500 kyats. Since the villagers were busy with their farm work they had to arrange the money by selling rice or cattle and pay the money to the commander. Now it is said that the commander is in full pocket with the money he took from the villagers. The commander also ordered the villagers to reconstruct the roads and clean even dried leaves and branches on the roads between villages. All the VPDC’s Presidents are forced to attend the meeting everymonth. The place of the meetings is 5-day walk (to and fro) from their own villageand all the expenses(including foods) are also incurred by themselves.

Civilians engaged in road construction as forced laborers

Date of interview : 4.7.99
Name : Ngun Hmung (Village tract chairman)
Age : 40
Gender : Male
Occupation : Farmer
Village : Khua Bung (A), Thantlang Township, Chin State
Nationality : Chin
Religion : Christian
Family member : 8 including 6 Children

By using the name of ” Border Trade between India and Burma” the military government of Burma, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), constructed roads merely for better links between army camps in the border areas. The junta forced the people to construct road between Hriphi army camp and newly constructed Vuangtu camp, which is 13 miles in distance. One thousands villagers from the surrounding 30 villages were working for this construction as forced laborers. Moreover, these laborers had to carry their own tools, equipment and ration supplies during the road construction, which lasted from 1st February to the first week of June. The soldiers guarded the laborers and threatened that the entire concerned villages will be punished if anyone from any village ran away from the work site. The laborers were forced to work from dawn to dusk and were allowed to sleep only by their respective work sites where the soldiers assigned them. No medical treatment was given to the sick during the construction. The army allotted the work to each village and the villagers were forced to finish their allotted work before the first week of June that started from March 23. Major Khin Maung Ye, from Company 2 of Hriphi Camp and 2nd Battalion Commander of LIB 268 stationed in Falam, was directed to supervise the construction. Known among his inferiors who helped supervise the construction were Sergeant Nyo Win, Corporal Win Kyiang and Corp. SoeMyint. Firing 5 or 6 shots in the air the Major would often threaten the tired laborers with dire consequences if they did not follow his instruction. Therefore no one dare to complain their tiredness and had to stay calm. Sometimes the laborers were even robbed of their rations such as rice, dried meats that they brought from the village. The soldiers also stole five hoes from the laborers, which were brought from ZaBung village. Moreover, 4 persons from each village along Thantlang and Hriphi were forced to carry an empty diesel tank (50 gallons-capacity) from one village to another – any group that could not carry the tank were punched and beaten. The age of the laborers from each village ranged from 67 years to 15 years, including school children. Among the laborers who worked in the road construction were 3 elderly men, over 65 years, 3 widows and 5 school children from ZaBung village; 4elderly men (around age 50) from Zephai village; 1 elderly man and 4 middle school students from Nga Lang village and people from different age group even children and some Christian religious teachers from Hriphi village. While working on the construction, Ni Awi, a 23-year-old youth, son of Nun Hei from Hriphi village fell off the wall of the road and broke his right arms. Ram Cung, a 17-year-old youth, son of Hei Mang received serious chest and back injuries from the same incident. No medical treatment whatsoever was given to the victims. The newly constructed road had crossed private farms owned by HramThang, Sui Mang, Lian Te and Hre Cem of Hriphi (B) village were destroyed. The farmers received no compensation so far. These farmers are likely to face serious difficulties in the coming year, as their farms were destroyed without compensation. According to a reliable information, despite reportedly sanctioning Kyats 500000 and 140000 worth diesel for bulldozer. However, nothing was spent for the construction, instead forced labor was used. After completing the construction the laborers were forced to work on the army farms.

Force to construct police station and army camp

Name : Zamulaage : 35
Gender : Male
Occupation : Farmer ( presently Chairman of Shiao village tract )
Religion : Christian
Family members : 6-Children

The police station in charge and army/company commander of Shinletwa, Paletwa township, jointly, forced the villagers to construct police station and army camp. The villagers were divided into two groups. One group was assigned to build police station and the other was assigned to construct army camp. Para village, Shewlike village, Yayitaung village, Gonepin village, Pondmao village, Kyupyahtin village, Pyiwa village and Khone village were assigned to build army camp. Under a watchful eyes of the guards the villagers were forced to work from morning 6:00 until 5: pm without taking rest. No medicine was provided for the sick from the authorities. At night the villagers had to sleep at the place where the authority had specified. The villagers were warned that anyone who escape from the work field would be severely punished. The villagers had no time even for bathing. “The two constructions simultaneously started in February of 1999. As our group could not complete the construction in February they told us to come back in March. However, I could not go back to the construction because I was busy with my farm works. So when I went for the meeting in the beginning of May, the commander questioned me why I did not show up in the construction work and I was kept under arrest ( kept in the army camp). I requested the commander to allow me to stay in the village because I was so uncomfortable to stay in the army camp” said Zamula. He also added, “even though the commander allowed me to stay in the village, I had to give my signature twice a day at the camp. Moreover, the authority asked me to pay Kyats 500 for the cost of papers and pens”.

Collecting Cane Sticks From Villagers for Army

Name : Ngo Sa Age : 45 Gender : Male Religion : Christian Occupation : Farmer / vallage in charge of Tlaupi village Family members : 8 members(6 children, husband and wife)

Major Hla Ko Oo from LIB 740 ( Myaut Oo battalion ) of Arakan State was appointed as the company commander of Shinletwa army camp in Paletwa township, Chin State. He called the villages in the area to attend the meeting every month. In Shinletwa area there are 9 village tracts: Para tract, Shewlake, Ponemoo, Gonepyine, Shiao, Patheinplan, Maobin, Sineowa and Shinletwa.

In January of 1999 Major Hla Ko Oo, camp commander, summoned villages’ Chairmen and Secretaries of the 9 village tracts for a meeting. He ordered to bring 1,500 cane sticks from each village tract to the army camp in February. The total number of 13,500 cane sticks had to be sent by the 9 village tracts.

The canes were carried through riverine route to Akyap and sold them at 50 Kyats per cane.They were not paid for their labors at all.They just did it for the army’s profit. The forest where the cane plants are available is very far away from the village, and therefore they were not able to get them. Since the villagers are very poor, they had to sell their domestic animals and even rice which they kept for themselves to pay the army because they were not able to provide the canes which the army demanded. “That’s why I paid Kyats10,000 which I collected from the villagers for 500 cane at the rate of Kyat 20 per cane to company commander on 22 March 1999” said Mr. Ngo Sa, the incharge of Tlaupi village . The consequence of such kind of inhuman treatment by the army, the villagers now have faced shortage of food for the year to come

In the end part of March 1999, Major Hla Ko Oo was transfered and Capt. Than Naing Oo from LIB 233 Bothitaung Battalion replaced him as company commander. Capt. Than Naing Oo followed the footsteps of the previous commander. He summoned for a meeting every month. “He ordered us to give Kyats 4,000 instead of 200 canes. So I went to the army camp and paid it. A total which I paid was Kyats 14,000” said Mr. Ngo Sa.

KYATS 20,000 PER VILLAGE TRACK FOR ARMY HQR SCHOOLS

In June 1998 SPDC issued the order to close down all self supported private schools in Chin State. While ordering to close down self supported private school in Chin State, the SPDC army forced Chin villagers to pay for construction of army Headquarters School. Lt. Col Saw Thun, the commander of LIB 538 ordered 18 villages that under the command of Sinletwa army camp in Paletwa township has to contribute 18-ft. long 400 poles of bambo and 100 cubic feet wood to construct Battalion 538 Headquarters School before November 15 1998. The army warned and threatened the villagers that they had to pay three times if they could not meet the requirement before the dead line. It was harvesting period and the villagers were busy with their farm works. When they pleaded to the army for forgiveness, the battalion commander told them to pay Kyat 20,000/- per each village tract. There are 6-village tracts.

FORCED LABOR

( Excerpt from Interview with College Students, January 1999 Issue )

Question : Did you have to do voluntary labour while you were student?

Ngheta : The Let Pan Chaung villagers are forced to work on road construction every year. The villagers have to repair all the roads linking the various villages in the township. They also have to repair the bridges. This work is usually taking place in the summer. Every villager ends up doing one day of road work per week for 4 or 5 weeks every year. Then, in the rainy season, we have to repair the dam and canals for irrigation. There is little rain in Kaley area, so the villagers have to use an irrigation system to grow their crop. The dam is built with stone and mud, so it often breaks during the monsoon, and we have to go and repair it. I often missed school or arrive late in class, because that dam is quite far from our village. I am the only young man in my family, so I always have to go. The labour is ordered by Village PDC, and everyone failing to go to labour is fined 100 Kyats.

Muana : In Tahan quarter, the largest forced labour projects have now been completed: the Kaley to Gangaw railway and the Ye Chaung hydro dam. Since then, people are ordered to clean the ground in front of their house and to paint the façade, the fences and the trees around it whenever a high-level leader of SPDC is coming to Kaley. This is happening 4 or 5 times a year. We were also forced to build a platform in front of our house because the main road is a little higher. Also every household had to build a drain for sewerage water in front of his house. The Township PDC gave the measurement and ordered it to be built with brick and cement, but they did not provide the material.

1999 reports on Forced Labour

Forced labour

Major Khin Maung Ye, LIB 266, ordered the three villages: Saikah, Ruakhua and Ruabuk to present one person per family with their own tools and food in reconstructing road between Sopum and Sihhmuh village. The villagers have started reconstructing the road since 23rd September because they did not dare to resist the order. As most the Chin people are farmers they have no time to work in the fields.Escape in fear of arrest: Hre Ling and Sui Ceu had escaped to Bualpi village, Mizoram State of India when a troop led by Major Khin Maung Ye came to arrested them. The army accused them to be supporters of CNF. Later on, friends and relatives send their families to them on September 8. Sui Ceu has 4 children and Hre Ling has 5 children. They said ” It is not easy for us to depend on friends for our living in Bualpi”.

SPDC USED FORCED LABOR TO REPAIR ROAD

1. (Date of receiving report: 30th September 1999)

On 25/9/1999, Burmese army Company 3 Commander of 268 Battalion stationed at Tibual Camp, Falam Township ordered 20 villages along Falam-Rihkhawdar road to repair the road (which extends up to the Indian border). (See attached order)The number of laborers from each village ranges from 15to 30 depending on the size and the population of the village. They had to bring their own tools and ration for three days. They were not paid for their labor. The soldiers warned them that any village that failed to contribute “unpaid laborers” will be considered supporters of CNF, and that severe action will be taken against them. No village dare nor defy the order.

( Order Translation )

Impression of round seal of the 268 Light Infantry Battalion Company 3
Date 24/9/99

To Chairman

Village Peace and Development Council
Hnathial village (Old)

Subject: Invitation for ” voluntary labor”

Regarding the above subject, you are hereby informed that you organize 15 adult men from your village to volunteer for the reconstruction of the motor road between Falam and Rihkhawdar, which was damaged as a result of erosion and heavy landslide during the monsoon. The heavy downpour had also caused flood that damaged bridges. Led by yourself, 15 volunteers from your village have to bring hoes, shovels,saws, harrows and other tools, which will be required for the road construction. You also have to bring rations for three days during your work. You have to reach Hmunthar village to notify yourselves by 28 September 1999. Defaulter village will be considered as active supporters of CNF and severe action will be taken for defiance of order.

Sd/-Company Commander

A new army camp in Lentlang

The villagers around Lentlang are now facing problems, as they do not have 800 kyats to give Myo Kyaw, the commander of Battalion 268, Company 2,based in Falam, Chin State. He made an order throughout the area that one person from each family must see him or pay the fine in his camp which he ordered the villagers to build on September 1, 1999. Many of the villagers were too busy to see him timely, as it was the crucial period for their farm works.

MEETING FOR VARIOUS KINDS OF WORKS

Captain Min Zaw, Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 55 (Ngapali battalion), No.3 company commander, based in Arakan State, took a position as camp commander of Shinletwa, Paletwa Township, Chin State on July 25 1999. On Sunday of 1st August 1999 he summoned a meeting of 9-village tracts in the area. Knowing the fact that Chin people are Christian and observe the Sundays, the army personnel intentionally summoned a meeting and forced the villagers to serve as porters on Sundays. In the meeting, they ordered villagers to build a house for the army at the center of every village around Shinletwa. The 9-village tracts to be completed within one month. In addition, they ordered villagers to deliver(4′ by 2′) mat and 8-pieces (18′ by 6′) of woods to build woodenboxes to the army camp before the end of September without fail. The commander fixed the price of chicken at 300 kyats per viss (about1.5 kg, actual price for one viss of chicken is Kyat 750). They ordered the villagers to deliver only hens since those are tastier than cocks.Capt. Zaw Min also restricted the villagers not to sell rice anywhere except to Sinbowah and Sinletwa villages where there are army camps. Rice is the sole commodity of the farmers for their earnings. He also made a restriction that no household in the village should sell rice more than three times ayear. The soldiers depend freely on the rice of the villages whenever they go for patrolling. Capt. Min Zaw made an order that 18 people, two each from the 9villages, must be reserved to serve the soldiers. Six villages have to serve, in a routine-wise, in the army camp for 7-days a week for emergency needs and to serve as porters. The villagers who serve in the camp have to bring their own food. The commander announced that anyone missing in the camp would cause a fine of 1500 kyats. Since the villagers were busy with their farm work they had to arrange the money by selling rice or cattle and pay the money to the commander. Now it is said that the commander is in full pocket with the money he took from the villagers. The commander also ordered the villagers to reconstruct the roads and clean even dried leaves and branches on the roads between villages. All the VPDC’s Presidents are forced to attend the meeting everymonth. The place of the meetings is 5-day walk (to and fro) from their own villageand all the expenses(including foods) are also incurred by themselves.

Civilians engaged in road construction as forced laborers

Date of interview : 4.7.99
Name : Ngun Hmung (Village tract chairman)
Age : 40
Gender : Male
Occupation : Farmer
Village : Khua Bung (A), Thantlang Township, Chin State
Nationality : Chin
Religion : Christian
Family member : 8 including 6 Children

By using the name of ” Border Trade between India and Burma” the military government of Burma, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), constructed roads merely for better links between army camps in the border areas. The junta forced the people to construct road between Hriphi army camp and newly constructed Vuangtu camp, which is 13 miles in distance. One thousands villagers from the surrounding 30 villages were working for this construction as forced laborers. Moreover, these laborers had to carry their own tools, equipment and ration supplies during the road construction, which lasted from 1st February to the first week of June. The soldiers guarded the laborers and threatened that the entire concerned villages will be punished if anyone from any village ran away from the work site. The laborers were forced to work from dawn to dusk and were allowed to sleep only by their respective work sites where the soldiers assigned them. No medical treatment was given to the sick during the construction. The army allotted the work to each village and the villagers were forced to finish their allotted work before the first week of June that started from March 23. Major Khin Maung Ye, from Company 2 of Hriphi Camp and 2nd Battalion Commander of LIB 268 stationed in Falam, was directed to supervise the construction. Known among his inferiors who helped supervise the construction were Sergeant Nyo Win, Corporal Win Kyiang and Corp. SoeMyint. Firing 5 or 6 shots in the air the Major would often threaten the tired laborers with dire consequences if they did not follow his instruction. Therefore no one dare to complain their tiredness and had to stay calm. Sometimes the laborers were even robbed of their rations such as rice, dried meats that they brought from the village. The soldiers also stole five hoes from the laborers, which were brought from ZaBung village. Moreover, 4 persons from each village along Thantlang and Hriphi were forced to carry an empty diesel tank (50 gallons-capacity) from one village to another – any group that could not carry the tank were punched and beaten. The age of the laborers from each village ranged from 67 years to 15 years, including school children. Among the laborers who worked in the road construction were 3 elderly men, over 65 years, 3 widows and 5 school children from ZaBung village; 4elderly men (around age 50) from Zephai village; 1 elderly man and 4 middle school students from Nga Lang village and people from different age group even children and some Christian religious teachers from Hriphi village. While working on the construction, Ni Awi, a 23-year-old youth, son of Nun Hei from Hriphi village fell off the wall of the road and broke his right arms. Ram Cung, a 17-year-old youth, son of Hei Mang received serious chest and back injuries from the same incident. No medical treatment whatsoever was given to the victims. The newly constructed road had crossed private farms owned by HramThang, Sui Mang, Lian Te and Hre Cem of Hriphi (B) village were destroyed. The farmers received no compensation so far. These farmers are likely to face serious difficulties in the coming year, as their farms were destroyed without compensation. According to a reliable information, despite reportedly sanctioning Kyats 500000 and 140000 worth diesel for bulldozer. However, nothing was spent for the construction, instead forced labor was used. After completing the construction the laborers were forced to work on the army farms.

Force to construct police station and army camp

Name : Zamulaage : 35
Gender : Male
Occupation : Farmer ( presently Chairman of Shiao village tract )
Religion : Christian
Family members : 6-Children

The police station in charge and army/company commander of Shinletwa, Paletwa township, jointly, forced the villagers to construct police station and army camp. The villagers were divided into two groups. One group was assigned to build police station and the other was assigned to construct army camp. Para village, Shewlike village, Yayitaung village, Gonepin village, Pondmao village, Kyupyahtin village, Pyiwa village and Khone village were assigned to build army camp. Under a watchful eyes of the guards the villagers were forced to work from morning 6:00 until 5: pm without taking rest. No medicine was provided for the sick from the authorities. At night the villagers had to sleep at the place where the authority had specified. The villagers were warned that anyone who escape from the work field would be severely punished. The villagers had no time even for bathing. “The two constructions simultaneously started in February of 1999. As our group could not complete the construction in February they told us to come back in March. However, I could not go back to the construction because I was busy with my farm works. So when I went for the meeting in the beginning of May, the commander questioned me why I did not show up in the construction work and I was kept under arrest ( kept in the army camp). I requested the commander to allow me to stay in the village because I was so uncomfortable to stay in the army camp” said Zamula. He also added, “even though the commander allowed me to stay in the village, I had to give my signature twice a day at the camp. Moreover, the authority asked me to pay Kyats 500 for the cost of papers and pens”.

Collecting Cane Sticks From Villagers for Army

Name : Ngo Sa Age : 45 Gender : Male Religion : Christian Occupation : Farmer / vallage in charge of Tlaupi village Family members : 8 members(6 children, husband and wife)

Major Hla Ko Oo from LIB 740 ( Myaut Oo battalion ) of Arakan State was appointed as the company commander of Shinletwa army camp in Paletwa township, Chin State. He called the villages in the area to attend the meeting every month. In Shinletwa area there are 9 village tracts: Para tract, Shewlake, Ponemoo, Gonepyine, Shiao, Patheinplan, Maobin, Sineowa and Shinletwa.

In January of 1999 Major Hla Ko Oo, camp commander, summoned villages’ Chairmen and Secretaries of the 9 village tracts for a meeting. He ordered to bring 1,500 cane sticks from each village tract to the army camp in February. The total number of 13,500 cane sticks had to be sent by the 9 village tracts.

The canes were carried through riverine route to Akyap and sold them at 50 Kyats per cane.They were not paid for their labors at all.They just did it for the army’s profit. The forest where the cane plants are available is very far away from the village, and therefore they were not able to get them. Since the villagers are very poor, they had to sell their domestic animals and even rice which they kept for themselves to pay the army because they were not able to provide the canes which the army demanded. “That’s why I paid Kyats10,000 which I collected from the villagers for 500 cane at the rate of Kyat 20 per cane to company commander on 22 March 1999” said Mr. Ngo Sa, the incharge of Tlaupi village . The consequence of such kind of inhuman treatment by the army, the villagers now have faced shortage of food for the year to come

In the end part of March 1999, Major Hla Ko Oo was transfered and Capt. Than Naing Oo from LIB 233 Bothitaung Battalion replaced him as company commander. Capt. Than Naing Oo followed the footsteps of the previous commander. He summoned for a meeting every month. “He ordered us to give Kyats 4,000 instead of 200 canes. So I went to the army camp and paid it. A total which I paid was Kyats 14,000” said Mr. Ngo Sa.

KYATS 20,000 PER VILLAGE TRACK FOR ARMY HQR SCHOOLS

In June 1998 SPDC issued the order to close down all self supported private schools in Chin State. While ordering to close down self supported private school in Chin State, the SPDC army forced Chin villagers to pay for construction of army Headquarters School. Lt. Col Saw Thun, the commander of LIB 538 ordered 18 villages that under the command of Sinletwa army camp in Paletwa township has to contribute 18-ft. long 400 poles of bambo and 100 cubic feet wood to construct Battalion 538 Headquarters School before November 15 1998. The army warned and threatened the villagers that they had to pay three times if they could not meet the requirement before the dead line. It was harvesting period and the villagers were busy with their farm works. When they pleaded to the army for forgiveness, the battalion commander told them to pay Kyat 20,000/- per each village tract. There are 6-village tracts.

FORCED LABOR

( Excerpt from Interview with College Students, January 1999 Issue )

Question : Did you have to do voluntary labour while you were student?

Ngheta : The Let Pan Chaung villagers are forced to work on road construction every year. The villagers have to repair all the roads linking the various villages in the township. They also have to repair the bridges. This work is usually taking place in the summer. Every villager ends up doing one day of road work per week for 4 or 5 weeks every year. Then, in the rainy season, we have to repair the dam and canals for irrigation. There is little rain in Kaley area, so the villagers have to use an irrigation system to grow their crop. The dam is built with stone and mud, so it often breaks during the monsoon, and we have to go and repair it. I often missed school or arrive late in class, because that dam is quite far from our village. I am the only young man in my family, so I always have to go. The labour is ordered by Village PDC, and everyone failing to go to labour is fined 100 Kyats.

Muana : In Tahan quarter, the largest forced labour projects have now been completed: the Kaley to Gangaw railway and the Ye Chaung hydro dam. Since then, people are ordered to clean the ground in front of their house and to paint the façade, the fences and the trees around it whenever a high-level leader of SPDC is coming to Kaley. This is happening 4 or 5 times a year. We were also forced to build a platform in front of our house because the main road is a little higher. Also every household had to build a drain for sewerage water in front of his house. The Township PDC gave the measurement and ordered it to be built with brick and cement, but they did not provide the material.

2000 Reports On Forced Labour

Supply Wood Or Pay Fine

Each block of villages in Paletwa area, Southern Chin State, were forced to supply wood of 75 cubic feet per block. The defaulter Hemapi block had to pay the fine of Ks. 60000 to Major Zaw Tun, the battalion commander of Sinletwa. The Battalion, Light Infantry Battalion LIB 538, issued an order that each of the 18 blocks in the surrounding area must saw the wood and send to him. The villagers were cheated that the wood would be used for building boats for the convenience of the public.

In October 2000, the Platoon commander Kyaw Kyaw Oo of LIB 538 ordered the villages of Pathiantlang (Upper and Lower), Sia Oo, Hemate and Hemapi to supply 150 cubic feet each as a punishment for having moved the villages two years ago.Major Zaw Tun sold the wood to traders in ThuraAi for Ks. 1000 per cubic feet, only for his own pocket. It was learnt that he issued the order after the ThuraAi traders gave him the advice to do so, and offered a good deal. In the transaction, the traders were given the right to reject wood with flaws, in which case, the villagers were told to supply “good wood.”

In remote areas like Sinletwa, not every village has people who know how to saw wood. Shortage of tools is another problem. Some villages had to hire wood men for Ks. 500 per person per day. Maung Tin Aye and Kyaw Thein of ThuraAi, Tun Win of Sinletwa, and Aung Tun Hla of Sweletwa were reported to have purchased the wood from Major Zaw Tun.

Soldiers who had a temporary camp in Sweletwa, Sinowa and Puahhmung demanded 2 persons from each block, to serve in the camp. The villagers serve in the camp as slave labours, doing whatever they were told including night sentry.

Villagers of Para, Tlopi, Hemapi, Hemate, Pintia, uppper and lower Pathiantlang, Mau, Salangpi and Arakan villages near Saiha held a meeting on September 17, and decided to report the deeds of the camp commanders to higher authorities. Each household in the whole area contributed Ks. 100 for the expenses of those who would go for the reporting to plain Burma.

FORCED LABOUR IN MATUPI TOWNSHIP

Border Area Development means torture, forced labour, displacement of families and destruction of an ordinary villagers in the border areas “My name is Tuan Hrang (name change for security reason), 48 years old and I am from Capaw village, Matupi township, Chin State. Our village is situated between Sabawngte and Lailenpi village. There is a Burmese army camp under the command of Major Maung Maung stationed in Sabawngte village which is half a days walk from our village (about 12 miles) and there is another Burmese army post in Lailenpi village which is 24 miles away from our village.

Thus, the army always compels us to work for them. The situation became much worse in our area last year when the army started to implement a border area development project. In January 1999 Major Maung Maung and Lt. Myo Swe issued an order to construct a road for cars between Sabawngte village and Lailenpi village under this project. We were forced to work on the road for the whole year with no time to work for ourselves. We were not paid at all for our labours. Also, we had tocarry our own rations, medicines and all the tools necessary for road construction.

The work was very hard and we had to work from dawn to dark. The food was not very good so we became sick. Some people suffered from malaria and some from diarrhea. Some people even died from their illnesses. The sick people were allowed two days rest only when his/her condition was at its very worst. We were not even allowed to go to church for Sunday worship service. The working conditions were terrible. The road we constructed had to be 10 feet wide and, as it is mountainous area, the embankment of the road is about 10 to 20 feet high. The soldiers guarded us when we were working. They forced us to work until 9 or 10 PM, and only after that, allowed us to eat our supper. We become very weak and thin because of excessive work and lack of nutrition. Since the Burmese army battalion stationed itself in our area, forced labour, torture and all kinds of harassment are no longer strange in our daily lives. Our village of 60 households used to be quiet and a nice place to live but now we have only 30 households left. Many families fled to Mizoram State in India and many peoples moved to other villages or towns. Now the population of our village is about 200 and only about 50 of us are able to work. Most of the time we have to spend our labours working for the army and there is no time left to work for ourselves.

As a result, we will surely starve in the coming year. Major Maung Maung and Lieutenant Thin Lin Aung of Sabawngte army camp issued an order on December 9,1999 for the following five villages to reconstruct the road: Capaw, Sabawngte, Sabawngpi, Darling and Hlungmang

1. They demanded 60 workers from Capaw village but only 15 people could show up.
2. They demanded 80 workers from Sabawngte village but only 40people could show up.
3. They demanded 80 workers from Sabawngpi village but only 38 peoplecould show up.
4. They demanded 80 workers from Darling village but only 40 peoplecould show up.
5. They demanded 60 workers from Hlungmang village but only 12 peoplecould show up.

The army demanded 340 people to reconstruct the road from five villages but only more than a hundred people could work. While working, the soldiers punched, kicked and beat us whenever they wanted. We were not even allowed to go to our villages to celebrate Christmas. Being Christians, Christmas celebrations are the most joyful time for us. However, last Christmas, we were working as forced labourers in the jungle. Many forced labourers got sick but they did not receive any medicine or treatment from the army. Thus we have to find medicine by ourselves. The slogan “Border Area Development” sounds great but in reality it means forced labour, torture, displacement of families and destruction of the lives of ordinary villagers in the border areas just like what happened to our village.

A YOUNG BOY DROWNED WHILE RELAYING A LETTER FOR THE ARMY

My name is Pu Vu Leng, 40 years old Chin Christian. I am a farmer from Sabawngte Village, Matupi township, Chin State. Rizua village is two days walk from our village, Sabawngte. The military ordered me to relay a letter to Rizua village. The letter was from 2ndLt. Thin Lin Aung of Aimed forces No.3107/Khalahyah 273 Battalion to Major Maung Maung. On December 27,99, I walked to Darling village. The following day, I and a boy named Khai Tlua started to walk to another village, Capaw. When we were crossing Bawinu River, the boy was drowned. This boy is the youngest of 8 children in the family. Since the family is too poor to support him to go to school, the boy helps his parents on farming.

His body was found on the evening of the same day and was carried to Sabawngte village and the people in the village buried him. Even though he died on journey ordered by the military, the family was not given any helps by the military. In view of the New Year 2000, people wanted to celebrate continuously Christmas throughout New Year. Unfortunately, the celebration was interrupted by the death of this boy. No one dared to make any complaint to the military. The military used the people as they like. But they ignored what people suffered and even death. People in Sabawngte village suffered most because there is a military camp.

2001 Reports on Forced Labour

SPDC uses Forced Labor in Army Owned Farm

The Burmese army has been forcing the civilian to work in the army-owned farms in Kankaw township of Western Burma, according to the testimony of U Kyaw Win (Name changed for security reason). A 48 year-old village headman from XXX village, U Kyaw Win testified to the CHRO field reporter that amidst claims by Burmese junta of having eradicated forced labor in Burma, the practice continues.

According to him, the Burmese army has a large plot of farm in the vicinity of Taung-khin-yin Village of Kankaw Township, Magwe division, Western Burma. The farm is operated under the supervision of army North Western Command since 1996.

From the beginning, villagers were forced to clear 15,000 acres of virgin land. Since then, forced labor never ceases in our area. From 1997 to 2001 the farm was operated under the command of Major Kyaw Soe of Light Infantry Battallion LIB 269 based in Tidim.

From March 2001, Major Kyaw Soe was replaced by Major Zaw Oo from Light Infantry Battalion LIB 226, based in Haka. Civilians from around the area have to work at the army farm from the time of sowing to harvesting time. Sometimes the soldiers are unsatisfied with the human labor, and forced laborers are made to bring along their bulls and buffaloes to work at the farm

This harvesting season (2001), civilians from Taung-khin-yin village, Tha-lin village, Shwebo village, Thin-taw village, Hnan-kha village, Min-tha village, Kung-ywa village, A-lay village and Ywa-ma villagers are among those forced to work at the army farm from June to Septermber

U Kyaw Win added that; besides the farm works, villagers have to do manual works for the army such as building the army barracks, cutting woods for the army, carrying waters and making furniture for the army officers.

( CHRO: interview U Kyaw Win on October 1, 2001 )

SPDC Troops Forced Chin Villagers To Serve as Porters

The Burmese army Light Infantry Battalion LIB 268 from Lentlang army camp, Tidim township of Chin state, forced 15 civilians from Lentlang village to serve as porter on September 8, 2001.

The porters were herded by Sergeant Tin Myint of LIB 268, and his troops from Lentlang village to Tio village of Falam township, Chin State. When they arrived to Tio village, the porters were forced to carry ration for the army. Overburdened, the porters could not carry the loads.

Thus, Sergeant Tin Myint demanded two more porters from Tio village. While the porters were packing the load, one soldier took a stick and started to beat the porters saying that they are too slow in packing the load. He stopped beating them only after an elder from Tio village begged the soldier to stop.

The next day, on September 9, 2001, Sergeant Tin Myint and his troops took another 15 porters from Tio village and forced them to carry army ammunition from Tio village to Lentlang army camp.

Ms. Nini (an eye witness of the incident), 29 years old villager from Tio village reported the incident to CHRO field worker on September 15 2001.

(CHRO note: the name Nini is not her real name. We changed the name to protect her identity for security reasons)

Forced Portering In Thantlang Twongship

Burmese Army Light Infantry Battalion LIB 274 and LIB 268 conducted a joint military operation in Thantlang township, Chin State in the month of August 2001. Commanding in charge of military intelligence unit in Chin State, Hla Myint Htun led the operation.

To aid in the supply needs during the operation, Hla Myint Htun and his troops arrested many civilians to serve as porters. The huge loads of army supplies, however, exceeded the availability of civilian porters. Thus, the troops demanded horses from the civilians to carry the loads.

The operation lasted for three weeks, and villagers from Thantlang township had to endure grueling conditions during the whole operations.

FORCED LABOR IN MAGWE DIVISION

Farmers from Kangaw township, Magwe division of Western Burma have been forced to work on the farm owned by the Burmese military North Western command, despite claims to the ILO that the practice has been eradicated in Burma.

According to U Ba Thein (name changed), 50 years old Burmese farmer from Hantha-wadi village of Kangaw township, it’s been 3 months that all the villagers from Kangaw township are forced to work on the North Western command military-owned farm. The forced labour started in June and is still going on at the time CHRO interviewed U Ba Thein on August 18, 2001.

U Ba Thein was forced to work at one of the forced labour camps called ” Kyu-kya ” under the command of Major Thein Aung of Light Infantry Battalion LIB 309 Katha battalion. There are several forced labour camps in Kangaw township and Colonel Hla Ngwe, tactical commander of North Western Command is the supervisor of all the labour camps in Magwe division.

Despite their engagement with forced labour most of the time, villages’ headmen are ordered to submit monthly report to the township Peace and Development office saying that there is no forced labour and forced porter in their village.

Racially selective settlement and relocation being implemented in Kalay-Tamu Area

The State peace and Development Council in Sagaing Division has established three new villages between Kalay and Tamu town since March 2001. In the new three villages, only Burmese Buddhists are allowed to settle, although the surrounding areas have been co-inhabited by ethnic Chin and Shan-Bama decent.

The names of the three villages are Yanmyo-Aung, Yantaing-Aung, and Yanngein-Aung. The meaning of the villages name literally translates “conquest of the enemy”. These names are reported to have been dubbed based on superstitious astronomical readings consulted by SPDC.

The area is mostly inhabited by Chin and Shan-bamas and there are many virgin lands and forest in the surrounding areas. The inhabitants in the area are prohibited to extend their farm or plough the virgin land. Only the Burmese Buddhists are allowed to settle in the new villages.

The SPDC persuades (Burman) people from Minkin township of Magwe division to settle in the new villages promising them that they would be sufficiently provided with whatever they need.

Since January 2001, the SPDC authority strictly collects or seizes goods and commodities, such as rice, cooking oil, bicycles, medicines and farm animals from traders and villagers. The goods they seized were provided to the new settlers from the three villages.

According to U Than Aung (name changed), 60 years old Burmese farmer from Tamu township, all the nearby villages have been working in the new three villages since March 2001 till today. The villagers have to build school, houses, digging the well, cutting wood and ploughing in the farm for the new settlers. (Date of interview with U Than Aung, 11 August 2001).

SPDC monopolizes farming management

The State Peace and Development Council in Kangaw township have forced farmers to buy paddy seeds, corn seeds and bio-fertilizer with high price saying that the paddy seeds which they sell can produce 300 tins of rice in one acre area of land and that all the farmers should buy and sow them in their farm.

Thus, all the farmers bought the paddy seeds from the authority with a high price, 1,800 Kyats per tin and corn seeds with 80 Kyats per one pyi (one pyi is about 4 kgs ) and a bottle of bio-fertilizer for 800 Kyats.

But when they actually grow the paddy seeds they bought from the SPDC authority, it produced only 60 tins per acre according to U Tha Lu, 50 years old Burmese farmer from Hanthawadi village of Magwe division. The authorities buy back the rice from farmers with the rate of 350 Kyats per tin.

“It is totally unjust. When they sold them to us, we paid 1,800 Kyats per tin and they want to buy back from us with the price of 350 Kyats per tin” said U Tha Lu.

The SPDC authority started this method in the year 2000 and they knew that it is damaging the farmers. But when the monsoon, farming season in Burma, come in June authority repeated what they did to the farmer last year.(CHRO interviewed U Tha Lu on 9 August 2001)

Villages Headmen Must Sign: “There Is No Porter or Forced Labour”

CHRO received a report from reliable source that the SPDC in Kalay Township, Sagaing Division have ordered all the villages headmen to report that there is no porter and forced labour in their respective areas.

According to U Phu Kya (Name changed for security reason), 45 years old Burmese village council member from Ywasi-Ywatha village tract of Sagaing Division, starting from June 2001 the township Peace and Development Council ordered all the village headmen to write monthly report that there is no porter or forced labour in their village, despite the existence of the practice of forced labor on a large scale throughout the region.

Again on August 8, 2001, all the village council members in Kalay Township were summoned to the township Peace and Development Council office and forced to sign that there is no porter or forced labour in their village.(Date of interview with U Phu Kya: 11 August 2001)

October 4, 2001: Junta disbands Christian infrastructure, restricts access to theological studies abroad

According CHRO source, Chin Christian ministers face a limited access for their further studies in foreign countries especially in the United States. Even though the ruling military junta in Burma does not explicitly impose law on restriction on Christian ministers for their further studies, many Chin Christian ministers have had their application for passport rejected for unknown reasons.

The majority of Christian pastors who come for further studies in the United States from Burma are Chins. According to sources, Chin Christian ministers make about two third of the population among those who come to the States for further Studies in the field of theology.

The American Baptist Missionary came to Chinland in late 19th Century and majority of Chins converted to Christianity by the end of 20th century. The United States is the most favoured place for Christian ministers for further studies.

Since 1995, Christian institutions in Burma cannot get permission from the authority to build Christian infrastructure such as Church, seminary and Christian school. According to the rule and regulations imposed by the ruling military junta, any religion in the country can apply permission at the ministry of Home and Religions Affairs to build the institution’s infrastructure. However, the ministry always rejects their applications.

After bribing a good deal of money to the lower level, township or district authorities, Christians institutions are allowed to repair, extend or build their infrastructure.

Furthermore, Christians are prohibited to hold worship service in their home. According to the order no. 100 ( HTWE ) 10/TTP-345/ KL-2000 dated 26 May 2000 released from the office of township directorate office of religious affairs in Kalay Myo, Sagaing division, there will be no more home worship service, religious meeting and training outside of the church. The order warned that anyone who does not abide by the order would be put on trial.

SPDC troops abduct civilian vehicles at whims

According to Khuma, one of the drivers from the “Zalat Phyu” truck association in Tahan, Sagaing Division, the Burmese troops constantly abduct their vehicles whenever they want.

” Zalat Phyu” truck association was formed with truck owners, mostly Chins from Falam and Tedim of Chin state and Tahan of Sagaing division. There are about 30 truck running every day. Since the beginning of their functioning, the Burmese military have been using ” Zalat Hhyu” trucks without pay for whenever they want.

Most of the time, the truck association has to serve as porter for the Burmese army Light Infantry Battalion LIB 266 based in Haka, LIB 268 in Falam and LIB 269 in Tedim, in Chin State. The Association has to transport army rations, arms and ammunitions and the Burmese soldiers whenever they travel.

They also have to carry their own food and the Burmese army does not provide anything to the driver or the truck association.

According to Khuma, he transported LIB 266 troops from Tio river, Indo-Burma border to Haka, the capital of Chin state. The military paid nothing for his service.

Khuma said that sometimes the Burmese troops abduct the truck to squeeze money from the association. In that case, the truck is usually released after letting the driver pay between 10,000 to 30,000 Kyats to the army.

Every vehicle coming from Kalay myo has to transport one quintal of sand without fail for the Buddhist pagoda being built at Lentlang, Falam township of Chin State. It is compulsory for every car. Besides, any vehicle passing through Manipur River has to donate 500 Kyats at the immigration gate.

Civilian in Southern Chinland forced to work at the Army Camp

CHRO received and confirmed the following information from Mr. Thang Cin, 55 year old farmer from Lungcawipi village, Matupi towship of Chin state. In the first week of June 2001 Lieutenant Kyaw Kyaw Naing of Light Infantry Battalion LIB 274 from Sabawngte army camp asked village headmen from Lungcawipi, Hlungmang, and Darling to attend a meeting on June 9 at Sabawngte army camp. He warned the villages headmen that any one who fail to attend the meeting will face revere punishment.

In the meeting, Lt. Kyaw Kyaw Naing issued an order for the villagers. The order includes 5 points that the villagers must obey without fail. To rebuild the fence of Sabawngte army camp. Villagers are not allowed to carry their gun outside of the village. Those who carry their gun outside of the village will be shot. To keep the record of visitors or guest from other villages. Villagers must obtain permission from the headman when they want to travel. Any guest who does not have permit from the headman shall report to the army camp.

Lt. Kyaw Kyaw Naing warned the villagers that if any villagers fail to comply the above order, the village must be burnt by the army. According to order number one, the villagers from Lungcawipi, Hlungmang, and Darling were forced to work from June 11, 2001. Villagers were forced to work from dawn to dark. Even though, the beginning of monsoon-the month of June- is the busiest time for villagers to work in their farm, they have to abandon their farm work and repair the fence of the army camp. The villagers have to bring their own food and tools to work at the army camp.

Interview with an escaped prisoner from Saya San Hard Labor Camp

(Rhododendron Note: Saya San Force Labour Camp is located in Kabaw valley of Sagaing Division, Western Burma )

Name : Thang Hnin (name changed)
Town/Village : Haka
Age : 41
Marital Status : Married with three children
Nationality : Chin
Religion : Christian
Interview date : 28/3/2001 at Aizawl.

CHRO: Why were you arrested?
Thang Hnin : I was arrested by the Military Intelligence for carrying teak lumber without permission. I used to obtain a permission for doing this business on previous occasions but unfortunately I did not have one with me when I was arrested.

CHRO: Where were you kept after your arrest?
Thang Hnin: After being arrested, the MI had the Forestry Department lay charges against me and the court sentenced me to two and a half years in prison. After being convicted, I was sent to Kaley prison for three months after which I was again sent to Saya San Hard Labor Camp.

CHRO: Can you tell us about the names of officials in charge of the camps and how they behaved in terms of treating the prisoners?
Than Hnin: Captain Soe Win was in charge of the Camp. Just below him were one lieutenant and a 2nd lieutenant. I can’t remember the names of the rest officials. They all are from the Jail Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs. All of them are heavy drinkers. The worst thing is that we got beaten up whenever they were intoxicated. Capatian Soe Win was a very violent and brutal person and so were the rest officials.

CHRO: Can you give us a sense of how you keep up with in the prison?
Thang Hnin: We didn’t have to work in both Haka and Kaley Prisons. However, once we landed in the Saya San Hard Labor Camp, we realize that there was hardly any chance a person would survive.

CHRO: Can you tell us a little bit about your experience and how difficult was the work there in the Camp.
Thang Hnin: There are many things to say about. I don’t know how to even describe. But to describe it in brief, there were over 450 prisoners in the Saya San Hard Labor Camp, most of whom were Burmese Amy deserters. Inmates from Monywa and Kaley prisons were usually sent to this camp to serve hard labor sentence.

CHRO: What sort of work did you do?
Thang Hnin: The most common work was digging drains for irrigations, digging soils, ploughing & tilling rice fields, cutting firewood and preparing char coals. The paddy fields we ploughed were primarily for their own use and the jail officials often sold the rice for their personal ends. Charcoals that we made were also for the personal use of the jail officials. Since there were no oxen or buffalos available for the tilling, three people have to pull the yoke like animals.

CHRO: What is the time of your work hours and how do you keep up with that?
Thang Hnin: We never had a rest time. Between 4-5 a.m. in the morning, they conducted regular checks to make sure everyone is present. Beginning from 5 a.m. we work until 12 noon. We are given a breakfast break at 12 noon and the work resumed at 1 p.m and lasted until 5 in the evening. The work proceeds even on Sunday. Even sick people are not allowed to take a rest. We are whipped if we take even a short break during the work. We had to rush to work if called even when we are having meals. We can’t rest no matter how hot the sun is or no matter how hard it rains. It makes things even more difficult as our feet are chained with a two-Kilo-weigh manacle. The shackles remained fastened on our feet from the day we landed in the camp until we got out. It remained attached to our feet wherever we are – during work or at bedtime. We had to work even at night in preparation for the arrival of high officials from Rangoon. I remember the Home Minister and Deputy Home Minister visiting our camp on separate occasions. There were other high officials visiting the camp but I can’t remember their names.

CHRO: What type of food were you fed in the Camp?
Thang Hnin: The foods we received were nothing better than those we usually feed pigs with. The rice was half un-husked and husked grain mingled together. Everyone received only a handful each. We have no more to eat than just a handful of those. We never had curry or soup to go with the food. There is nothing else to express than it was very very bad.

CHRO: Do you receive any medical treatment when you are sick?
Thang Hnin: No, not at all. We have to work even when we are sick not to mention the medical treatment. They wouldn’t let us rest just because we are sick. Sometimes people took a rest out of exhaustion from sickness. But as soon as the guard discovered them they whipped them and beat them up. Many prisoners died from this. There was absolutely no medicine to be seen in the camp.

CHRO: How many prisoners do you think died while you were in the camp
Thang Hnin: About 70 of them died in only the three-month period that I was there. It was almost an average of one person per day that died in three months. There might even have been more deaths that I didn’t know of.

CHRO: What was the most common cause of death?
Thang Hnin: How on earth could a human being endure those kinds of conditions? The work was extremely hard and the food was extremely bad, and in addition we couldn’t rest during sickness and there were no medical treatment. Everyone was just waiting to die.

CHRO: How were they buried after they died?
Thang Hnin: They were buried in a grave of about one foot deep. After about one week, the smells of the corpses attracted strayed dogs and pigs and the bodies are mutilated and eaten up by these animals. It was extremely sad to see this situation. The relatives were usually informed of the death but with a different story. They said that the prisoners died of sickness after being carefully treated in hospital. It was just a bunch of lies that the relatives were informed of. I wonder how could they lie with such things while we never even saw medicines. (Note: While talking about this he becomes too emotional).

CHRO: Was there any discrimination in the camp on ground of religion?
Thang Hnin: Absolutely! There was no room for people like me who are Christians. We were told that once we were in the prison we ought to follow the Burman religion, Buddhism.

CHRO: Wasn’t there any way in which you could be eased from doing hard works?
Thang Hnin: It was only the question of whether we have money or not. Money can do anything. If someone had more than 50,00 Kyats to give to the authorities, then he is made a Section Commander, which means that he no longer had to work. If someone from among the prisoners wanted to be an Office Staff, he had to pay 500,00 Kyats to the authorities. Anyone being able to pay that amount is automatically made the Office Staff. (Note: There are 10 Office Staffs in the Camps with half the number being from the Jail Department and another half from among the prisoners).

CHRO: How did you escape?
Thang Hnin: I simply could no longer bear the conditions that I took the risk to escape. It was on the night of 29th January 2000 after everyone was asleep when I made the escape. I was among those lucky enough to be an Office Staff; I fled while there was nobody in the Office.

CHRO: Where did you flee?
Thang Hnin: I fled to the Indian side. Our camp was located just one mile away from the Indian border and I just ran desperately towards the border until I reached Manipur State. I stayed in Manipur with one of the local families for eight months. I did not even speak the local language so I had to use body language and gesticulations to communicate with them. After eight months I came here to Aizawl of Mizoram State.

CHRO: Had there been any other prisoners who escaped like you did?
Thang Hnin: There had been many incidents in the past where prisoners tried to escape because they could no longer bear the conditions. But there were many people who are not lucky enough and were recaptured. Only a few of them had been lucky enough to survive from the beatings and torture after being recaptured. Most of them died from the torture. Those who survived these tortures were usually given additional one year prison term.

CHRO: Can you give us a picture of how you lived in the camp?
Thang Hnin: There are three prison hostels. When we sleep, there was no space left so as to be able to stretch our legs. But when we tried to bend our legs, again the space become too tight for us. There were two minor prisoners who are under 18. Most of us were between the ages of 20 to 40. If we want to shit, we have to do it in an open atmosphere where every sees us.

CHRO: How do you plan to move on?
Thang Hnin: The future is too grim. Everything is like closed for me. I don’t know how I am going to look after my wife and my children.

Night Watch Duty By Civilian Persists In Town In Chin State

Since mid 1997, civilians in northern Chin State’s Thantlang town have been regularly forced by the Burmese Army to do night watch duty. The duty does not spare even lone widows, according to information received from Thantlang.

The civilian sentry duty was enforced in 1997 by the Army in the wake of the National Student Sport Festival in Hakha to ensure security in the urban areas. Thantlang town is divided into seven blocks in which one sentry post is built in each block where four civilians from each block have to do the sentry duty every night. This duty goes on a rotating basis and lone widows who can not perform the duty by themselves have to hire one able person for Kyats 80 per night. A mandatory fine of money is imposed on those who fail to do the duty, said ( name omitted for security reason ) who is a student in Thantlang. The duty starts as soon as it is dark and lasts until dawn. The soldiers are conducting a regular and surprise check during the night to ensure people are doing their duty carefully. If they found out that someone is dozing off while on duty, the soldiers severely beat and punish that person.

Households who can afford to pay Kyats 10,000 to the Block Peace and Development Council are exempted from the duty for one year. Block PDC members themselves are required to do separate duty every night at each Block PDC Office. Though the citizens of Thantlang are greatly disappointed over the forcible duty imposed on them, they are left with no choice but to continue to perform the duty as they are afraid of the army authorities.

Army Authorities In Chin State Imposed Levy On Farmers

Name Laipa ( Name change )
Age: 40
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: Chin
Occupation: LPDC chairman and farmer
Marital Status: Married with 4 children
Address: ++++village, Falam Township, Chin State
Date of Interview: 14/01/2001

Some months ago, Township Peace and Development Council chairman in Falam summoned a meeting where he invited all Village PDC chairmen in the township and informed us that the government would no longer allow shifting cultivation in the area with immediate effect. He told us that anyone continuing the shifting cultivation would be arrested and imprisoned and that the shifting cultivation would be replaced by wet cultivation. We all pleaded to him that since most people do not have fields to do the wet cultivation without the current shifting form of cultivation, we would have nothing to eat and would all die. He said that he would allow us to continue the shifting cultivation under one condition-that everyone doing it would pay Kyats 60 to the authorities.

Therefore, for the year 1999-2000 every household pays kyat 60 each to the authorities in return for their permission. There are 10 villages in the Zahau village tract all of which have to pay the same amount to the authorities. They are Haimual, Thipcang, Hnathial (a), Hnathial (b), Zawngte, Ngailan, Seilawn, Sih Ngai, Tlang Kawi, Leilet village.

There are 40 households in our village and we paid Kayts 2,400 altogether regardless of the household is a widow. For the year 2000-2001, we were told that we have to pay another Kyats 60 per household. We have already cleared the site for cultivation, but if we do not pay the money then we would not be allowed to proceed. We are also fearful of arrest and imprisonment.

2002 Reports on Forced Labour

Forced Labor Continues In Remote Areas of Chin State

Beginning January 5, 2000, ten villages in remote areas of Chin State were forced to construct a 20-mile motor road lingking Vuangtu and Ngaphaipi villages, an eye witness told Chin Human Rights Organization.

Section 2 Commander of Burmese Army Light Infantry Battalion LIB 269 stationed at Vuangtu village issued an order requiring 10 villages located in the surrounding areas of Vuangtu to contribute unpaid labor for the road construction. Headmen of the ten villages were summoned to Vuangtu army base where they were told to carry out the order.

The villages include:

1. Lelai (Lailen)
2. La-ao (La-u)
3. Khipilu (Khuapi lu)
4. Mifawko tla (Farkungtlang)
5. Locitae (Lungcuaite)
6. Ngephetae (Ngaphaite)
7. Zephai(A)
8. Zephai(B)
9. Ngalang
10. Ngephepi (Ngaphaipi)

In addition, 235 people from Khuabung village were ordered to particpate in the forced labor. Not only were the villagers ordered to bring with them their own tools and ration during their work period but also were ordered to birng an additional one tin (About 8 Kgs) of rice and other needs for the army guards who supervised the forced labor.

The road construction is part of the Border Area Development Project and extensive forced labor have been used in the process. Although the army claimed that the project is for the development of the area, the roads have been used only to ease movements and communication of the Burmese troops around the area.

Force Labor Used to Repair Army Camp

According to a reliable source, the Burmese army forcibly took 35 persons from Tawngla Lung Cawi village, Thangtlang township to repair the army camp at Sabawngte village from January 3, 2002 to January 16, 2002.

2nd Lt. Mya Myit Soe ordered the forced labor recruits to bring their own ration and equipments for during their two-week stay in the camp. They were aslo ordered to bring one chicken for the army. Dried fish, meat, salt and other spices that the villagers brought with them were confiscated by the Lieutenant.

The laborers who became sick as a result of two weeks of hard work had to travel a 20-mile journey to Mizoram State of India to get medical treatment as the army did not provide them any medicines.

Tawngla Lungcawi is a small village of 40 households. Out of these, two persons in every household were forced to participate in the forced labor.

The Sabawngte army camp is repaired three times a year and all villages in the surrounding areas are forced to participate in repairing the camp on a rotating basis.