The following incident report was written by a community member trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. It is presented below translated exactly as originally written, save for minor edits for clarity and security.[1] This report was received along with other information from Papun District, including four other incident reports,[2] one interview and two situation updates.[3]
Type of Incident |
Looting |
Date of Incident(s) |
May 14th 2012 |
Incident Location (Village, Township and District) |
H--- village, X--- village, Y--- village, Meh Pree village tract, Bu Tho Township, Papun District |
Victim Information |
||||||||
Name
|
Age
|
Sex
|
Nationality
|
Family
|
Occupation
|
Religion
|
Position
|
Village
|
Saw M---
|
35
|
Male
|
Karen
|
Married
|
Farmer
|
Buddhist
|
Villager
|
H--- village
|
Saw N---
|
40
|
Male
|
Karen
|
Married
|
Farmer
|
Buddhist
|
Village Leader
|
X--- village
|
Saw L---
|
33
|
Male
|
Karen
|
Married
|
Farmer
|
Buddhist
|
Second Village Leader
|
Y--- village
|
Perpetrator information |
||||
Name |
Rank |
Company/Battalion/Division |
Based at |
Commander's Name |
Saw Nyunt Thein |
Commander |
Border Guard[4] #1014 |
D--- village, the Border Guard Camp |
Battalion Commander Maung Chit[5] |
1. Explain the specific manner how you collected this information. |
I always visited them [villages] in the past, so that they know me very well. Therefore, when they have to suffer this time, they wrote about it in a letter to me. |
2. Explain how the source verified information accuracy. |
We dare to say that this information is true because we already went and found the telegram from the District [Karen National Union District Office]. Therefore, we [can] say that this information is true. |
Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. For each incident, be sure to include 1) when the incident happened, 2) where it happened, 3) what happened, 4) how it happened, 5) who was involved, and 6) why it happened. Also describe any villager response(s) to the incident, the aftermath and the current living situation of the victims. Please use the space prepared below and create an attachment if needed. |
This is the report about the incidents that took place in the ethnic areas. We would like to report about the problems that occurred because, in the NPD [Nay Pyi Daw] government military [Tatmadaw], there is no love or obedience between the upper and lower [ranking] leaders. As a result, an order from above will say one thing, but the soldiers who follow the instruction do another thing. There are many problems appearing, but [we] would like to report one problem that is not conducive to human rights. This problem that we are going to report on should be called a "forced labour" problem. This forced labour problem happened in H---, X--- and Y--- villages. These villages are from Meh Pree village tract, Bu Tho Township, Papun District. The person who violated the human rights is Commander Nyunt Thein, who is the subordinate of Battalion Commander Maung Chit, from the Border Guard Battalion #1014. Commander Nyunt Thein's battalion is based in B--- village. Battalion Commander Maung Chit and his subordinates, which are commander Nyunt Thein's group from NPD government military Border Guard Battalion #1014,[6] have a habit and behaviour of doing these kind of activities, so they went and looted things from the villagers. As we found out, Commander Saw Nyunt Thein's group went and looted the villagers' things on May 14th 2012. They looted 15 durians from X--- village, five durians from Y--- village and 47 durians from H--- village. Moreover, the villagers had to send the durians to B--- village for Commander Saw Nyoo Thien, but they didn't get any payment. The villagers had to give [the items] out of fear; even if they wanted to give [them] or not, they had to give [them]. Burmese President Thein Sein and the head of Operations Command said that they will make forced labour end among their soldiers,[7] but the words are meaningless. Their soldiers continuously frighten the villagers and force the villagers to do labour, because the Burmese governments, one after another, have practiced this against all the people who live in Burma. Therefore, for the ones who have authority and arms, it is really difficult to change their behaviour. Consequently, these kinds of problems will happen a lot in the future. |
Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details
Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided. |
The information can be used everywhere. Wherever you [KHRG] need to use it, you can. |