(Notes: Click on the map for a higher resolution PDF file. These maps can also be found as PDF files in the map room)

Southern Shan state
Karenni state
Northern Karen (Kayin) areas
Central Karen (Kayin) state
Mon areas
Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) division

Southern Shan State

During 2007, SPDC increased pressure on ethnic ceasefire groups, harassment of the civilian population and control over private enterprise in southern Shan State. This has resulted in militarization and state-sponsored development projects becoming more significant factors of displacement and insecurity. Systematic human rights abuses across 12 townships alone have forcibly displaced over 15,000 people from their homes during the past year. At least 163,000 people are currently estimated to be internally displaced in southern Shan State, with the majority attempting to survive under the administration of ethnic ceasefire parties.

SPDC’s expanded presence into ceasefire areas has taken different forms, depending on perceived relations with the armed opposition. In areas nominally controlled by recent defectors from the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) 758 battalion in Laikha township, the SPDC liaises directly with the newly empowered ceasefire authorities. During the past year, this resulted in a range of human rights abuses including the imposition of forced labour to cultivate agricultural plantations and construct military camps. The Burmese Army coordinated military strategy with the splinter group during frequent skirmishes against SSA-S, while also imposing restrictions on civilian travel and threatening to forcibly relocate local villages.

In areas where the compliance of ceasefire authorities has decreased, the Burmese Army has deployed more troops to maintain control. For example, after the United Wa State Army (UWSA) refused SPDC orders to relocate back to their original base on the Chinese border, Burmese Army patrols into Mong Ton township on the Thailand border increased. 2,500 villagers in UWSA territory are reported to have fled from their homes rather than face the harassment of SPDC troops. Burmese Army patrols also increased in Mawkmai township following the return to armed struggle by one faction of the Shan Nationalities Peoples’ Liberation Organisation (SNPLO). Skirmishes resulted with the displacement of over 2,000 civilians.

Expanded State control has intensified demands to cultivate castor oil and physic nut plantations to produce bio-diesel as a fuel substitute. Associated human rights abuses, such as land confiscation, extortion, and forced cultivation have become more systematic, with the junta establishing sub-township supervisory committees. The crops require tending to all year, but the demands placed upon villagers to reach their quotas are not matched with any decrease in other impositions from local authorities. When plantations in Wan Lao village tract in Kunhing township grew well in 2006, the authorities responded by doubling the quota in 2007. The imposition of forced labour for castor oil plantations has been cited by the Shan Human Rights Foundation as the main reason for flight by new arrivals to the Thailand border in 2007.

The Ta Hsang dam in Mong Pan remains the largest single project to have caused development-induced displacement in southern Shan State, given that 30,000 people have already been forced to leave their homes. However, during the past year, a joint venture between SPDC and the private firm Asia World for logging in Kung Hing township caused the most instability. Approximately 3,000 people were forced from their homes as a result of demands for forced labour, arbitrary taxes or the fear of SPDC troop deployments being sent in to “secure” the investment site.

[Rev: Feb 08]

Karenni (Kayah) State

The political context in Karenni (or Kayah) State is strongly influenced by business and military links between the Burmese Army and various ceasefire groups, although the armed opposition of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) remains a potent force. 81,000 people are estimated to currently remain internally displaced in Karenni State with the majority of these living in chronic poverty in ceasefire areas administered by the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF) and others. However, the most vulnerable internally displaced communities amount to 10,000 people who are hiding from detection by joint SPDC and ceasefire party patrols in Shadaw, Pruso and Pasaung townships.

SPDC has 14 infantry battalions permanently based in Karenni State, with these troops reporting to the Regional Operation Command in Loikaw and the Military Operations Command in Pekon. Another 10 battalions regularly conduct mobile patrols throughout the State, although they are under the command of the Light Infantry Division 55 based in Kalaw (Shan State). While mobile units previously withdrew after a couple of months, these battalions have been rotated to patrol continuously throughout Karenni State since 2005. Given the Burmese army’s so-called self reliance policy, such troop deployments result in local livelihoods being undermined in order to feed the front line troops. In northern Loikaw township during the past year, over 3,000 acres of farm land has been confiscated to pave the way for an industrial zone.

While the ceasefire areas may have offered the promise of greater protection for villagers when first established over ten years ago, the ceasefire parties have lost much of their autonomy and must largely comply with SPDC orders. When the Burmese Army launches a military operation, the only difference in ceasefire areas is that the patrols are jointly conducted with ethnic forces and that villagers are taxed double the amount. While the ceasefire parties depend on mineral extraction, logging and taxes on the export of cattle and import of motor vehicles, villagers in Pruso and Demawso townships have been coerced into cultivating opium poppy for the first time to supplement their subsistence livelihoods.

Even greater threats to lives and livelihoods are prevalent in the contested areas in Pasaung township, where construction work continues along the Mawchit to Taungoo road. The imposition of forced labour to repair the road and restrictions on movements to secure the road from sabotage have resulted in decreased access to fields, forests and markets for local villagers. In a meeting with village leaders on 25 August 2007, the SPDC’s LIB #72 reaffirmed that roving patrols by the SPDC and its proxy the Karenni National Solidarity Organisation (KNSO) would continue to consider the surrounding forests as rebel territory. Anyone found in these forests is liable to be shot on sight, while the deployment of landmines remains widespread.

Government controlled relocation sites were first established in 1996 and, although the majority of residents have since moved elsewhere, almost 5,000 villagers remain spread across eight relocation sites in Karenni State in 2007. This is mainly due to fear of returning to their original villages due to ongoing human rights abuses. However, close proximity to SPDC troops and the high prevalence of harassment also pushes people away from relocation sites. The biggest movement during the past year was from Dawtamagyi relocation site, where villagers had been constantly punished by SPDC in retaliation for military ambushes conducted by KNPP.

[Rev: Feb 08]

Northern Karen (Kayin) areas

The most severe humanitarian atrocities in eastern Burma during the past year have been committed in the townships of Papun and Thandaung in Karen State as well as Kyaukgyi and Shwegyin in Pegu Division. Although 20 battalions are based in this area, more than 40 roving battalions have been targetting civilians and their means of survival in order to undermine the armed resistance. Over 42,000 people have been displaced during the past twelve months in these four townships, while more than 62,000 civilians remain hiding in fear from SPDC patrols. At least 38 villagers have been killed by the Burmese Army during 2007 in Thandaung township alone.

In low land areas, where civilians deal with the SPDC authorities regularly, greater restrictions on village locations and travel are reflected by an increased number of government controlled relocation sites compared to last year. Over 5,000 people have been ordered into these relocation sites. Apart from disrupting trade with upland villagers, which was a major source of income for lowlanders, farm lands have also been confiscated. Livelihoods in relocation sites have been undermined by demands for forced labour to repair military camps, carry military supplies to outposts, and for the construction of roads to facilitate SPDC militarization.

It is difficult to distinguish between conflict and development induced displacement in this area, because the Burmese Army’s militarization is so interdependent with road construction. While reconstruction of the old Taungoo-Mawchi and Kyaukgyi-Saw Hta roads that stretch east towards the Thailand border continues, orders have also been imposed to cut a new road linking these access routes together. Work on this new road from Bawgali Gyi-Saw Mu Plaw temporarily stopped at Kay Pu at the onset of the 2007 wet season. However the deployment of Burmese Army troops to 10 new military outposts and regular heavy artillery attacks on surrounding hillside cultivation sites has already forced over 4,000 people to abandon 25 nearby villages and flee to the east of the Yunzalin river.

The pattern for targeting civilians in contested areas by Burmese troops is widespread and systematic across northern Karen communities. Roving patrols set out to search for settlements in areas where the armed opposition of the Karen National Union (KNU) is active, based on the assumption that anyone seen is either a rebel or rebel sympathizer liable to be shot on sight. Upon discovering settlements and hillsides under cultivation, heavy artillery is launched indiscriminately. Unless villagers have received early warning of approaching troops, this is their first chance to flee. Foot soldiers then enter the area to destroy or confiscate whatever food supplies, livestock and property can be found. Landmines are planted to deter villagers from returning to their homes.

The majority of civilians in hiding depend on their networks with neighbouring villagers to survive livelihood shocks, and struggle to remain as close to their ancestral lands as possible. However when coping strategies collapse, villagers must decide between fleeing to seek asylum or work in Thailand and migrating into Burmese towns and relocation sites in search of paid labour. Those who have tried fleeing to Thailand have found it increasingly difficult to access asylum since early 2006, and in response a temporary IDP camp was established right on the border. 3,800 people are now living in Eethuhta, which far exceeds the carrying capacity of the surrounding forests. Security is of even greater concern as SPDC outposts are only 3 hours walk away.

[Rev: Feb 08]

Central Karen (Kayin) state

The Burmese Army has controlled most of central Karen State since a major offensive was launched in the mid 1990’s and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) splintered away from the KNU. SPDC has consolidated territorial gains through a campaign of confiscating lands and forcibly relocating remote villages. As a result, there is significantly less armed conflict in central Karen State compared to the northern areas. However, the prevalence of human rights abuses committed by the Burmese Army and some sections of the Karen ceasefire groups continues to undermine human security.

Despite the lack of a political settlement, small economic concessions and fatigue from decades of armed conflict have encouraged other small groups to break away from KNU and “return to the legal fold”. The most recent example was KNU’s former 7th Brigade Commander who established the KNU/KNLA Peace Council early in 2007. While degrees of understanding have ultimately been established between some of the Karen ceasefire groups and the armed opposition, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council split has been bitter so far. In a joint operation with DKBA to challenge the authority of KNU along the Dawna Range, fields belonging to over 900 households from 17 villages were confiscated in Myawaddy township. Landmines were reportedly planted to deter both the KNU and local villagers from returning.

While there are local commanders of the DKBA who genuinely aspire to the promotion of human rights, there also remain others who collaborate with the Burmese Army in perpetrating widespread human rights abuses. Forced labour is particularly common, with village leaders in Myawaddy township regularly ordered to provide labourers for 3-4 days at a time for road or other infrastructure construction during the past year. A fine of 10,000 to 15,000 kyat per person is imposed if the quota is not met.

The Burmese Army and DKBA also perpetrated humanitarian atrocities in Hlaingbwe township during operations supposedly targeting the KNU during March and April 2007. A village headman was killed while carrying military supplies for these joint patrols when he stepped on a landmine, while 19 others were arrested and detained as suspected KNU sympathizers. The harassment and destruction of rice supplies affected over 4,000 people spread across 24 villages.

In Kyain Seikkgyi township, the effects of expanded militarization by the SPDC has been documented by the Karen Human Rights Group. Over 100 interviews have been conducted with villagers and more than 100 written orders from local SPDC authorities have been obtained. The findings include forced membership of SPDC affiliated groups; land confiscation without compensation, forced labour without payment on military farms, roads and other infrastructure; forced portering of military supplies; arbitrary taxation, extortion and theft; as well as direct personal violence including rape and execution.

[Rev: Feb 08]

Mon areas

Although the New Mon State Party (NMSP) negotiated a ceasefire with the national authorities in 1995, the lack of a subsequent political settlement has led to ongoing human rights violations and the resumption of armed resistance by frustrated Mon splinter groups. As a result, over 70,000 civilians in ethnic Mon majority areas are estimated to remain internally displaced in 2007. The vast majority of these people reside in NMSP ceasefire areas in Ye township of Mon State, Kyain Seikkgyi township of Karen State and Yebyu township of Tenasserim Division.

The Mon ceasefire areas remain a relative sanctuary of protection from human rights abuses, although SPDC troops regularly intrude and harass villagers while supposedly searching for the Mon splinter groups. Regardless, the lack of arable soil and livelihood opportunities restricts the possibility of these areas becoming sustainable for displaced villagers.

International humanitarian agencies have still not been able to negotiate any substantive access or presence into the Mon ceasefire areas or southern Ye township. This situation has deteriorated during the past year since the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) closed its field office in Moulmein.

The Mon splinter groups offer an insignificant degree of opposition to the Burmese Army, but the SPDC manipulates the existence of armed opposition to justify a range of oppressive controls over the civilian population. Travel restrictions prevent farmers from sleeping overnight in their fields, which often makes tending to crops virtually impossible. In June 2007, suspicion that southern Ye villagers from Baround had been in contact with the splinter group was sufficient for the Burmese Army to forcibly evict the entire village and relocate them to Khaw Zar. Some villagers were tortured and even the monastery was driven out.

This broader trend of increasing controls on the civilian population is also reflected in an increased number of displaced villagers in relocation sites. Villagers in Khawzar relocation site were ordered to repair around 40 bridges along the Ye-Tavoy and Ye-Khawzar main roads. SPDC authorities provided a token amount of cement for each bridge, but essentially the villagers had to provide not only their labour free of charge but also additional cement.

Given a lack of rations, Burmese Army battalions remain engaged in businesses to raise funds for their own troops. Most of the battalions, such as IB 31 in Ye township during May 2007, have also confiscated farm land surrounding their compounds for their soldiers’ families. This battalion also has a brick-burning business, for which the commander also forced villagers to provide fire wood. Local villages in Ye have also been ordered to prepare 5-10 porters a day when military operations are conducted.

Thai investment in the Yadana Gas pipeline was one of the principal factors which pressured the NMSP into a ceasefire agreement back in 1995, and it is still the cause of human rights violations in 2007. As with the Kanbauk-Myaingkalay domestic gas pipeline, the SPDC has delegated responsibility for security to local villagers. In effect, this means that local people have less time for their own livelihoods as they must work to secure electricity for others.

[Rev: Feb 08]

Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) Division

Tenasserim Division is ruled by the SPDC's Coastal Military Command, based in Mergui (Myeik), with the support of three Military Operation Command centers in Tavoy, Bokpyin and Kawthaung. There are currently 46 Infantry and Light Infantry battalions spread throughout Tenasserim Division. Amongst other social, economic and political problems, military rule has resulted in approximately 61,000 villagers remaining internally displaced in 2007. This includes almost 2,000 people who have been forced to move from their homes during the past year alone.

The misrule of law to intimidate villagers against having contact with the armed opposition is widespread, even in government controlled areas. In December 2006, the entire village of Kya Chaung in Bokpyin Township was burnt and forcibly relocated to Lanphonnga in retaliation for alleged contact with KNU. In the months preceding that, one of the villagers had been tortured to death and three others from nearby Manoeroe village tract had been sentenced to three years imprisonment. Extortion is a more common form of punishment, such as when 3 villagers from Thayetchaung township were fined 70,000 kyat each in June 2007.

The poverty of villagers in relocation sites has been exacerbated during the past year by increased demands from SPDC for forced labour and land. To consolidate the military’s expansion, villagers from relocation sites were forced to carry military supplies to border camps on a monthly basis. Betel nut plantations that existed nearby to the new military camps were confiscated, and to add insult to injury the villagers were forced to work on their former lands for the benefit of the local Burmese Army troops.

Thousands of acres of land have also been confiscated by the Burmese Army for commercial agriculture. Some of this land has been appropriated for joint ventures between Thai and Malaysian investors and local Burmese Army commanders for palm oil and rubber plantations. However land confiscation, forced labour and extortion related to the national initiative to cultivate castor oil is also becoming increasingly common.

During the past year, villagers from over 20 relocation sites in Tavoy, Thayetchaung and Tenasserim township have attempted to either return to their original villages or resettle on nearby lands. This has been done on the basis of local agreements with SPDC authorities, but without any official permission. So there is no guarantee that these villagers will not be obliged to move back to the Burmese Army’s designated sites, nor that efforts to re-establish livelihoods and reintegrate into society will be sustainable. Nonetheless, given the voluntary movement, estimates for the number of people in relocation sites have been cut by 18,000 people compared to last year.

The most destructive SPDC military operations during the past year were conducted by LIB 342 and IB 265 in Tenasserim and Bokpyin townships. While these patrols were purportedly targeting a KNU battalion, the result was that the housing and food supplies of civilians who were hiding in fear of the SPDC were destroyed. As a result of these atrocities, over 1,000 villagers were unable to sustain their subsistence any longer. Some were obliged to move into nearby relocation sites, but the majority fled to seek asylum in Thailand. Estimates for the number of IDPs in hiding have thus slightly decreased, but this does not reflect any solution to their problems.

[Rev: Feb 08]