Thread: Burma and Landmines

"The Burmese military continues to violate international humanitarian law through the use of anti-personnel landmines, extrajudicial killings, forced labor, torture, beatings, and pillaging of property," HRW said.


Abuses continue in Myanmar rebel conflict: HRW
Sun Jan 22 2012

Myanmar: Myanmar's army raped, tortured and killed civilians in ethnic minority conflict zones last year, Human Rights Watch said Sunday, despite the government's recent political reforms.

Bloody battles have raged since June in Kachin State in the far north, marring the progress of a new regime that has surprised observers with a series of positive reforms in the isolated nation, also known as Burma.

"The Burmese military continues to violate international humanitarian law through the use of anti-personnel landmines, extrajudicial killings, forced labor, torture, beatings, and pillaging of property," HRW said.

Its report on the country -- part of a worldwide review of human rights in 2011 -- also said sexual violence against women and girls "remains a serious problem", while the army "continues to actively recruit and use child soldiers".

Ethnic minority rebels were also accused of abuses, including using landmines near civilian areas.

HRW said over 50,000 civilians had been internally displaced by fighting in Kachin State, which shattered a 17-year ceasefire, while around 500,000 people were internally displaced due to conflict in the country's eastern border areas last year.

Myanmar's government, still largely dominated by former junta generals, has reached peace deals with Shan and Karen rebels in eastern states in recent weeks as part of efforts to end civil war that has gripped parts of Myanmar since independence in 1948.

In December, a presidential order was issued for the military to cease attacks against guerrillas from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), but it failed to stop heavy fighting in the region, according to the rebels.

On Friday, Myanmar state media reported that the government and Kachin rebels had agreed to hold further ceasefire negotiations.

Resolution of the conflicts is a demand of Western nations which impose sanctions on the regime.

The government has made progress on other key areas including holding talks with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been allowed to stand in an April by-election, and released hundreds of political prisoners.

timesofoman.com

• Download this report (PDF, 4.22 MB)

Awful.

Burma : anti-personnel landmines, extrajudicial killings, forced labor, torture, ....

"The Burmese military continues to violate international humanitarian law through the use of anti-personnel landmines, extrajudicial killings, forced labor, torture, beatings, and pillaging of property," HRW said.

Odd how this immediately brings images of US troops in countries that they're currently bringing liberty and freedom to.

besides the forced labour.

^

and a predictable tired troll from one of our resident fok wits

apples and oranges. well off point mao.

Teenage Boys Tell of Forced Labor Horror
SIMON ROUGHNEEN/ THE IRRAWADDY
Friday, February 24, 2012


Four teenage boys who say they were forced to work as porters and human shields for the Burmese army.
(Photo: Simon Roughneen)

LAIZA, Kachin State—The Burmese army is using underage boys for forced labour and is coercing porters to fight on the front line against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), according to accounts given to The Irrawaddy by four teenagers who say they served as porters for the army.

Two of the four are under 18; the others 18 and 19. All say they were forced to march in front of the infantry as the soldiers approached KIA positions. All four say they were coerced into joining the Tatmadaw (the common name for the Burmese army) after being promised jobs by army officers at different locations and at different times during 2011.

Burma's government forces have long been accused of forcing civilians to work as porters and for using child soldiers in its campaigns against ethnic militias in the country's borderlands. According to January 2012 figures, since 2007 there have been 1,160 forced labour complaints registered with the International Labour Organization, which recently agreed with the Burmese government to renew its complaints process for another year.

Fighting between the Tatmadaw and the KIA resumed on June 9, 2011, after a 17-year ceasefire. Since then around 70,000 people, mostly Kachin villagers, have fled their homes due to fighting.

Aung Nan, aged 14, is the youngest of the four. “I was forced to go with the army to Kachin State on Sept. 9,” he said. “They stopped me one night after I had been watching a movie with friends in my hometown in Mon State.”

He says that he—along with three others who were also under 18—was woken at 4 am every day and forced to carry around 15kg of rice for the soldiers, sometimes marching until midnight. Aung Nan said he was beaten several times for failing to keep up with the soldiers, but that he was not forced to fight.

“Whenever we neared a village, everyone had run away before we got there,” he said, adding that he did not see soldiers kill or injure civilians.

“I escaped and ran away on Dec. 1,” he said. “We were passing through a banana plantation at Shadanpa [15 miles south of Myitkyina], and I told the soldier guarding me that I needed to go to the toilet. I ran through the forest as soon as I had a chance.”

Sitting nearby, Soe Htaik and Min Tin, age 18 and 19 and from Pegu and Irrawaddy divisions respectively, said they became friends while portering for the Burmese army last year.

“We were taken to work for the soldiers at different times,” said Soe Htaik. “But we stuck together, and in the end, we made a plan to escape.” Min Tin nods. “I was arrested in May last year,” he said. “We escaped together on Dec. 24.”

Both said they were forced to march ahead of the soldiers on two separate occasions as the Tatmadaw approached KIA positions.

“I was scared,” said Min Tin, adding that they were given guns before advancing on the Kachin fighters. “They taught us how to use the guns.”

Both said they never saw soldiers carry out attacks on civilians.

The interviews were conducted at a KIA intelligence base outside Laiza, a predominantly Kachin town on the Burma-China border, and a stronghold of the KIA's political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO).

The interview with Aung Nan was arranged first, with the three others volunteering to be interviewed when The Irrawaddy requested additional accounts from similar victims.

The four youngsters were picked up by the KIA after they escaped and were taken to Laiza. They each said they have been well treated at the spartan KIO/KIA compound, where they are free to walk around the compound and sit in shaded chairs outside their shared sleeping quarters.

“It is better than I expected,” said Soe Htaik. “We were afraid at first of what the KIA soldiers would do to us because we were on the other side.”

The KIO/KIA told The Irrawaddy that the four teenage detainees are free to leave, however they fear arrest if they try to return to their homes.

One, Aung Nan, wants to remain in Laiza. “There are not many jobs other than farming in Mon State,” he said. “I think I can find a better paying job here, if there is peace, and the Chinese businesspeople come back.

“I don't want to go back to school,” he added.

Win Myint, aged 17, said he was forcibly recruited by the Tatmadaw on Jan. 1, 2011. He doesn't remember exactly when he escaped, but said “I left because I did not want to be a soldier.”

He said he wants to go home, but is unsure if he can. Despite being under 18, he said he is afraid he will be arrested, his fears partly based on rumors he has heard that army deserters receive 25-year jail terms if caught.

“We saw some of our friends die,” said Soe Htaik.

He and Min Tin said that they saw five soldiers killed, in total, during their time with the army, but estimate that of the 300 soldiers they were forced to march with, some 10 percent were killed in fighting against the KIA, based on accounts given by other soldiers. “They [the soldiers] weren't all bad,” said Soe Htaik. “I made friends with some of them, said Min Tin.

Names have been changed to protect the identities of the four interviewees. Other details, such as their hometowns, have been omitted for the same reason.

irrawaddy.org

Myanmar agrees to end forced labour by 2015
17 March 2012


File photo shows a main road near the Sule pagoda in downtown Yangon.
(AFP/File - Christophe Archambault)

YANGON: Myanmar has signed an agreement with the International Labour Organization to end forced labour by 2015, state media reported on Saturday.

Deputy Labour Minister Myint Thein signed the memorandum of understanding with an ILO liaison officer on Friday in the new capital Naypyidaw, The New Light of Myanmar reported.

"Myanmar has signed MoUs with ILO and has been cooperating with ILO in combating the forced labour and is committed to eradicate it from the country by 2015," the official newspaper said.

The new government has surprised observers with reforms including talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the release of hundreds of political prisoners since the end of nearly five decades of military rule last year.

In June last year, the ILO's branch in Yangon said it had received 506 complaints related to forced labour since the start of 2010 -- more than double the number seen during the previous three years.

However, it said the increase was down to "awareness-raising activities" to ensure people knew their rights.

The ILO has said it had found a pattern of forced labour caused by a lack of proper funding for projects demanded from rural authorities.

But the main problem involved adults and youngsters pressed into working for the army.

In 2007, the then ruling military junta bowed to pressure from the UN labour agency and allowed an official, based in Yangon, to deal with complaints from victims on issues related to forced labour and underage army recruitment.

channelnewsasia.com



Absolutely perfect material for the Chair of ASEAN

.

Originally Posted by Mid

Myanmar agrees to end forced labour by 2015
17 March 2012


File photo shows a main road near the Sule pagoda in downtown Yangon.
(AFP/File - Christophe Archambault)

YANGON: Myanmar has signed an agreement with the International Labour Organization to end forced labour by 2015, state media reported on Saturday.

Deputy Labour Minister Myint Thein signed the memorandum of understanding with an ILO liaison officer on Friday in the new capital Naypyidaw, The New Light of Myanmar reported.

"Myanmar has signed MoUs with ILO and has been cooperating with ILO in combating the forced labour and is committed to eradicate it from the country by 2015," the official newspaper said.

The new government has surprised observers with reforms including talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the release of hundreds of political prisoners since the end of nearly five decades of military rule last year.

In June last year, the ILO's branch in Yangon said it had received 506 complaints related to forced labour since the start of 2010 -- more than double the number seen during the previous three years.

However, it said the increase was down to "awareness-raising activities" to ensure people knew their rights.

The ILO has said it had found a pattern of forced labour caused by a lack of proper funding for projects demanded from rural authorities.

But the main problem involved adults and youngsters pressed into working for the army.

In 2007, the then ruling military junta bowed to pressure from the UN labour agency and allowed an official, based in Yangon, to deal with complaints from victims on issues related to forced labour and underage army recruitment.

channelnewsasia.com



Absolutely perfect material for the Chair of ASEAN

.

By then many will be working for greedy US and EU corporations for the equivalent of 100 baht or so a day, I'm sure they will be much happier. The sanctimonious clowns in our home countries do not care at all about the people of Burma, it's just that Chinese labor is getting more expensive.

Burmese gov’t allows torture with impunity: report
Thursday, 31 May 2012



The Burmese government continues to commit human rights abuses including torture and inhumane treatment with impunity, according to a new report by ND-Burma, a network for human rights documentation.

From January to December 2011, ND-Burma said its member organizations documented 371 cases of human rights violation across the country of which 83 cases, or 22 per cent, constituted torture and ill treatment.

Torture and ill treatment in Burma take place in two distinct places: (1) in detention centers where political prisoners are interrogated and held, and (2) in ethnic nationality areas where the Burmese military is present, said the report “Extreme Measures,” which was issued this week.

The study found that torture of political prisoners generally takes place shortly after an individual is arrested during interrogations.

“It can, along with ill treatment, continue for years – even decades – while political prisoners serve inordinately long sentences,” it said.

In ethnic nationality areas, it said torture seldom takes place in formal detention centers but is meted out in military bases or remote rural villages.

“Shan State and Kachin states are particularly hard hit. Evidence gathered by ND-Burma shows that torture and ill-treatment in ethnic areas often takes place within the context of other human rights violations, including arbitrary arrest, forced labor, forced portering, confiscation of property, restriction of movement, and sexual violence.”

The report makes a number of recommendations to the Burmese government and the international community.

It called for the adoption of legislation guaranteeing basic rights for the people of Burma, particularly the internationally recognized right to be free from torture and ill treatment, and laws that ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes face justice.

There are also calls for more education, training and public awareness about torture in order to prevent future violations as well as calls to institute safeguards and programs that guarantee that victims have available, credible, accessible remedies to deal with torture should it take place, it said.

The report also raises concerns regarding the new National Human Rights Commission, including its lack of full independence, its inability to investigate crimes committed by the military, and its failure to comply fully with best practices for national human rights commissions as described in the Paris Principles.

Torture and ill treatment have a ripple effect, said ND-Burma, with potentially long lasting negative consequences for individuals, families and society as a whole.

It said the report should serve as a reminder to Burmese government and the international community that significant hurdles remain for Burma to emerge as a functioning democracy that respects the rule of law and the rights of the people of Burma, particularly ethnic nationalities.

– For more information or a copy of the report, go to Extreme Measures: Torture and Ill Treatment in Burma since the 2010 Elections | Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma

mizzima.com

The ******** government continues to commit human rights abuses including torture and inhumane treatment with impunity,

Wa landmines causing havoc on the border
Thursday, 09 May 2013

At least 9 people including children have been killed and several more injured on the border between Shan State’s Mongton township and Chiangmai since the annual water splashing festival last month, according to sources on the border.

“The casualties include cattle and other domestic animals,” said a Thai security officer this morning.

The minefields were planted by the United Wa State army (UWSA)’s Thai-Burmese border-based 171st Military Region, he added. “They told us that it was to protect the Wa reputation concerning drugs,” he said, “because every time a drug shipment is seized in Thailand, the finger is pointed at the Wa. But we believe that increased tension between the Wa and the Burma Army may be another reason.”



The relationship between the two sides have deteriorated since fighting between the Burma army and the UWSA’s allies in the north: Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Shan State Army (SSA) and Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has intensified.

In Mongton township, the Burma Army has recently stepped up its activities:

• Return of the heavy weapons crew to Loi Khilek mountain that overlooks the UWSA’s Mong Kyawd
• Resumption of patrols in the countryside
• Reinforcements by units from neighboring townships

The UWSA has warned residents of Mongton that they use only two passages if they are coming to Thailand, according an aid worker in Fang, 160 km north of Chiangmai:

• Mongton-Pongpakhem-Nawng Ook (Arunothai) road, known as BP1
• Mongton-Nakawngmu-Ta Kwang-Khawk Woe-Hwe Pa Khi-Naw Lae –Fang

“There should be no landmines between borders,” the Thai security officer told SHAN.

Burma is not a signatory to the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. It is not alone. Three of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, Russia and the US have not joined it either.

english.panglong.org

Originally Posted by Mid

Burma is not a signatory to the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. It is not alone. Three of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, Russia and the US have not joined it either.

Is there a good reason not to name Israel? Hasn't joined either.