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Print:This photo set contains more than 500 photos and their descriptions which document the human rights situation in Karen areas of Burma. These photos were taken and collected by KHRG since the publication of Photo Set 2001-A in September 2001. The photos in this set were taken in Toungoo, Nyaunglebin, Papun, Thaton, Pa’an and Dooplaya Districts. The photos have been divided into separate headings: ‘Forced Labour’, 'Attacks on Villages & Village Destruction', 'Detention and Torture', 'Shootings and Killings', 'Flight and Displacement', 'Landmines', 'Soldiers', 'Children', and 'Food'. Children in the Karen areas of Burma are frequently the victims of forced labour, detention, torture, killings, village destruction, displacement, landmines and each of the other forms of human rights abuses documented in this photo set. They suffer from these abuses as individuals and as part of a family and the village community.
This photo set contains more than 500 photos and their descriptions which document the human rights situation in Karen areas of Burma. These photos were taken and collected by KHRG since the publication of Photo Set 2001-A in September 2001. The photos in this set were taken in Toungoo, Nyaunglebin, Papun, Thaton, Pa’an and Dooplaya Districts. The photos have been divided into separate headings: ‘Forced Labour’, 'Attacks on Villages & Village Destruction', 'Detention and Torture', 'Shootings and Killings', 'Flight and Displacement', 'Landmines', 'Soldiers', 'Children', and 'Food'. Brief descriptions of the topics covered under each heading are provided at the beginning of each section. More detailed information on the abuses and the regions is available in KHRG documentary reports, several of which are referenced in the text below. Of important note is that many of the abuses documented in this photo set occurred after Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in May 2002 and international attention increasingly began to focus on an imminent agreement between the SPDC and the National League for Democracy. These photos graphically demonstrate that while the international community discusses the ‘progress’ in Rangoon, gross human rights abuses continue to be committed by SPDC forces in the countryside. The numerous forced labour photos in this set have been taken since the SPDC claimed that it had put an end to forced labour, most of them since the International Labour Organisation’s High Level Team released its report criticising the regime's continued use of forced labour and its inadequate attempts to halt the practice.
Almost all of the images in this photo set were taken by KHRG human rights researchers in the field, as noted in the photo captions. Photos taken by other researchers are credited to those who provided them. The photos contained in the set have been chosen as a sampling, and are intended to show as many aspects of the situation as possible. Details of some of the people and places have been deliberately omitted from the photo descriptions or replaced by ‘xxxx’, ‘yyyy’, ‘aaaa’, ‘bbbb’, etc. where necessary to protect the villagers involved. Some of the faces have also been blocked out for the same reasons. While looking at the photos, please remember that they were taken under difficult and often dangerous circumstances with low budget equipment, and quality is as incoming.
The photos are not numbered sequentially, but according to the main section in which they appear; for example, photos related primarily to Forced Labour are numbered A1, A2, etc., and those related to Attacks on Villages and Village Destruction are numbered B1, B2, etc. Photos which are relevant to more than one section are displayed more than once. For example, a photo of children doing forced labour will appear in both the Forced Labour section and the Children section, but will bear the same number in both places; as a result, the sequence of numbered photos may appear something like A1, A2, C47, A3, A4, D12, D13, A5, etc.
opies of the photo prints or digital copies scanned at higher resolution can be obtained upon approval from KHRG, by specifying the photo set and photo numbers and paying the costs involved. Organisations may download the images from the KHRG web site or use the prints for publication on a not-for-profit basis, provided they are properly credited; any publication for commercial purposes requires permission of the copyright holders. This can be obtained by contacting KHRG.
This photo set attempts to give a visual impression of the situation in many different areas, and is intended for use together with KHRG's more detailed regional reports. For a more comprehensive picture of the human rights situation in each area, see the reports referenced in the summaries and photo captions below.
Clicking on any of the sample photos on this page will take you directly to the description of that photo. You can proceed through the report section by section, or click on any section name to go there directly. Within each section, click on the thumbnails above the photo captions to see a full-size image.
Every section of this report contains photos relating to children. Human rights abuses often impact on children harder than they do on adults, and children are often more vulnerable because of the lesser control that they have over their own lives. This makes it necessary to look at their problems as the children would look at them. Most of these photos have been selected from other sections of the report and reproduced here to emphasise the particular effects of the situation on children. Some of the photos in the education section are exclusive to this part of the report because they deal with the education of children who still live in their villages.
The photos below have been divided into six sections: 1. Children and Forced Labour, which documents the SPDC's use of children for forced labour and its effects upon them; 2. Violence Against Children, which looks at the wounding and deaths of children through shootings and landmines; 3. Children and Displacement documents the displacement and flight of children and its effects upon them; 4. Health illustrates the lack of health care available to children, particularly the internally displaced; 5. Education shows the problems of schooling both for the internally displaced and for children in villages under SPDC control; and 6. Child Soldiers, with photos of a couple of the children who have been forced into the ranks of the SPDC's Army. More information on the situation of children can be found in KHRG reports on individual regions.
Photos #A1, A2, A3, A4, A5: LIB’s #548 and 549 forced villagers from every village tract in T'Nay Hsah township of Pa’an District to begin construction on this canal in January 2002. When these photos were taken in May 2002 the canal was still unfinished. The villagers had to work everyday from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening, when it is already getting dark as can be seen in Photo #A5. They had to bring their own rice, water and tools and were paid nothing for the work. Many people became sick from the long hours of work and having to sleep in the open on the ground. In Photo #A1 many of the workers are clearly children, some as young as 12 years old. Children often work alongside the adults in order to get the work over quickly so the villagers can return to their own work. The SPDC never objects to children working as long as the work is done. A KHRG researcher from the area reported that the construction of the canal has resulted in the destruction of at least 30 paddy fields with no compensation paid to the owners. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #A19, A20, A21, A22, A23, A24: In late August 2001, Battalion Commander aaaa of IB #xxx at yyyy Army camp in Thaton District ordered the xxxx village head and villagers to cut bamboo and bring it to the Army camp. Each village in the area had to send 200 lengths of bamboo. Photos A23 and A24 show the bamboo being loaded into boats to be sent downriver to the Army camp. Note the number of small children in Photos #A21 and A22. Women often have to bring their children along with them because there is no one else to watch them with the men and other children either in the fields or performing some other forced labour. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #A64, A65: Naw K--- (Photo #A64) and Naw L--- (Photo #A65) have to carry rice to xxxx army camp in Toungoo District whenever Commander aaaa of the Southern Command's Strategic Operations Command #3 orders them to do so. They are both from yyyy village. Naw K--- is 12 years old and Naw L--- is 17 years old. Women and children are often among the villagers who have to porter supplies to SPDC Army camps along the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee road. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #D4, D5, D6, D7: A group of villagers from Tee Law Bler village in Dooplaya District tried to flee to Thailand after being ordered to relocate in April 2002. They spent the night of April 28th in some rice field huts not far from their village. Soldiers of IB #78 found the villagers asleep in the huts and without investigating who was inside opened fire on them. Ten people were shot dead, six of them children: Saw Toh Paw (age 56), his wife Naw Hsa Ghay (51), their granddaughters Naw K'Ree Htoo (12) and Naw Bleh Po (5), Ma Htwe Yi (50), Naw Mu Tha (40), Mu Bpaw Bpaw (7), Saw K'Pru Mu (14), Naw Plah (5) and Naw Dta Baw (2). All but Saw Toh Paw and Saw K'Pru Mu were women and girls. Nine other villagers were wounded and left there by the soldiers. Naw Pee Lee, 45 years old, (Photos #D5 and D6) from Tee Law Bler village, was shot in the left breast. She was eight or nine months pregnant at the time. Her husband tried to care for her in the forest and after ten days she gave birth but the baby died immediately. She also died three days later on May 10th. Two of her five children had been among those who died in the initial barrage. The young boy in Photo #D7 was lucky to escape with only the injury to his left arm, although he will bear the scars of the attack physically and mentally for the rest of his life. [Photos: FBR]
Photo #E92: This family from K--- village in eastern Papun District does not have any rice or paddy anymore and they can no longer work their hill field because the SPDC troops are operating in the area. They have to go and ask for food from other villages. To do this they have to avoid patrolling SPDC soldiers and hope that they do not step on a landmine. They told a KHRG researcher that they are afraid to go, but they have to do it anyway. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #D20: Two and a half year old Naw E--- became fatherless when SPDC soldiers of LIBs #xxx and yyy shot her father dead on October 27th 2001 at the old village of xxxx. He had gone there to collect betel nut. He was Saw B---, a 27 year old hill field farmer from yyyy village, Papun District. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #D30, D32, D33, D34, D35: Saw P--- (Photo #D33) is the village head of xxxx village in western Papun District. On October 11th 2001 at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the 50 year old hill field farmer was in his field hut with his son, Saw K---, 15 years old (Photo #D30), when soldiers from a combined column of IB #xx, Column #x under Battalion Commander T--- and LIB #xxx commanded by A--- and deputy commander L--- opened fire on them. Saw K--- was injured by a piece of shrapnel in the waist (Photos #D31 and D32). No one else was injured and everyone was able to escape. In Photo #D34, Saw K--- is holding the tail sections of the rocket propelled grenades that the soldiers shot at him. Photo #D35 is a closer look at the tail sections. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #D39, D40: Saw M---'s (Photo #D39) wife was shot dead by a combined column of LIB #115 and IB #17. She died in the hill fields near H--- village, Papun District, in on July 25th 2001 at 1:30 in the afternoon. Saw M--- was arrested, bound and forced to carry as a porter for the soldiers for one month before they released him. Photo #D40 is of Saw M---'s four children who he must now take care of without his wife. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #D42, D43, D44: On December 9th 2001 at 6 o’clock in the morning, Police Corporal Z--- and Lance Corporal H--- were on duty at the xxxx quarter checkpoint in Kawkareik town. Both men were drunk and began verbally harassing a village woman, Nan M---, from yyyy village. The 18 year old girl was coming back from Thamehnya Mountain [where a famous Buddhist monastery is located near Pa’an town] where she had gone to worship at a monastery. She was questioned by the two policemen who also took 1,000 Kyat from her. Her cousin, Saw Htay Win, happened to arrive at the checkpoint at this time. The 10th Standard [Grade] student from Kawkareik High School #2 went to help her. The police told him, “This does not concern you. Don’t come and bother us.” Saw Htay Win said, “It does concern me. This is my cousin, my younger sister [a relative term since she is younger than him] and I am not satisfied with what you are doing.” The policemen than came closer to Saw Htay Win and punched him. One of the policemen picked up a stick and hit him on the head. Saw Htay Win became dizzy. The other policeman pulled his gun and shot Saw Htay Win in the right shoulder. The bullet traveled down through his liver and intestine killing Saw Htay Win. The police sent the young man’s body to xxxx Hospital before his parents could come for him. The doctors cut open his head and his torso to remove the bullet. They then sewed him back up and placed him in the morgue. When the young man’s parents went to ask about the incident no one dared to say anything. The parents then went to meet the two police men who were responsible but they were not allowed. The parents wanted to take his body back to be buried in their village, but the authorities would not allow it and wanted him buried beside the Army camp near xxxx town. More than 200 students demonstrated for at least two days because the authorities took no action against the two policemen. The uprising was calm, but the immigration police told the teachers of High School #x that they had better control their students or harsh action would be taken. The teachers told the students’ parents to control them. The authorities have yet to do anything about it and the parents are still unable to take their son home to be buried. The young man’s cousin, Nan M---, has become mentally unstable because of the event. Saw Htay Win was involved in many sports competitions for boxing, football, running and javelin and he won many awards for his athletic ability. On the morning of December 9th he was going to Pa’an to attend a boxing competition which was to be held on December 10th. Photo #D46 is of Saw Htay Win's medals that he won in sports competitions and for scholastic achievement. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #D53, D54, D55, D56, D57: On January 14th 2002, Naw N---, her husband and her son were coming back form cutting firewood when soldiers from LIB #xxx under Battalion Commander M--- and Battalion Deputy Commander M--- opened fire on them. Naw N--- was killed and her son was injured in the back by shrapnel, probably from a rifle grenade or a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). The incident happened near xxxx village, Dooplaya District. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #F20, F21: DKBA and SPDC soldiers planted many landmines around Ker Ghaw village in T’Nay Hsah township of Pa’an District during 2001. On September 15th 2001, Saw Wah Po from Kaw Kli village stepped on one of the landmines and was killed while going to his hill field. He was 16 years old. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #F28, F29, F31: Saw A--- (Photos #F28 and F29), 37 years old, and Saw H--- (Photos #F30 and F31), 14 years old, were going to buy food in xxxx village on March 22nd 2002 with 18 other villagers from yyyy village. At 6:40 in the morning they stepped on landmines at zzzz on a path beside the xxxx River in Toungoo District. The landmines had been laid by SPDC Infantry Battalions #53, 264 and 30. Both men died immediately. These photos were taken on March 23rd 2002. Photo #F33 shows Saw N--- (on the left), a 12 year old, fifth standard student, whose father, Saw A---, was killed by the landmines. Photos #F28 through F31 were taken where the men actually died, while photo #F32 shows the bodies together in preparation for burial. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #F37, F38: Naw N--- is a 15 year old girl from xxxx village in Pa’an District. DKBA #999 Brigade soldiers under yyyy camp commander S--- and commander P--- laid landmines beside the zzzz flat fields. Naw N--- told a KHRG researcher that she had gone to take care of the buffaloes in June 2002 beside the zzzz flat fields. At 10 o’clock in the morning she went to find some vegetables to eat. When she went under a tree by the fields she stepped on the landmine. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E1: Naw A--- (31 years old) from K--- village, northern Papun District and her five children. She told KHRG researchers that she has been unable to live in her village since 1997 because the SPDC soldiers shoot at them whenever they see them. This photo was taken when she was still living in hiding in the jungle before fleeing to a refugee camp in Thailand in 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E2: Naw T---, 45 years old, from H--- village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District and her children. The villagers from her village have found it difficult to find enough food to eat because they have had to constantly flee the SPDC Army since 1996. She told KHRG that, “They [SPDC soldiers] don’t only kill the old people and children, they kill everyone. They don’t only oppress H--- village, they oppress all the villages around H--- village. The Burmese don’t only shoot the people holding weapons [KNLA], they treat us the same as the people who hold weapons. They also said we are the strength of the people who hold weapons, so they will destroy all of our Karen people so there won’t be anyone alive anymore.” She could no longer endure the constant hunger and fear of living in the forest, so she started the difficult journey to a refugee camp in mid-2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E12, E13, E14: Villagers from K--- village in Papun District fleeing their village after receiving word that SPDC soldiers were coming their way in late 2001. Photos #E13 and #E14 where taken on a path in the forest after fleeing the village. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E17: Villagers from K--- village resting in the forest after fleeing units of the SPDC Army in Papun District in August 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E18, E19: Internally displaced villagers who recently fled their villages to the xxxx area in Papun District. Note the number of small children and elderly among the villagers. Both the children and elderly are more easily susceptible to diseases and life on the run in the forest is very difficult for them. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E20: Villagers from M--- village, eastern Papun District who have fled up into the mountains after SPDC soldiers destroyed their village. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E23: Villagers from H--- village, northern Papun District who were staying temporarily at xxxx village after fleeing SPDC soldiers in early December 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E26, E27: Villagers from L--- village, Papun District rest in a dry riverbed after fleeing an SPDC column. The soldiers of Tactical Operations Command #333 of LID #33 entered L--- village on November 25th 2001 causing the villagers to flee. The soldiers stayed in the village for several days looting the villagers' livestock and possessions and then burned and destroyed what remained. The presence of SPDC soldiers in L--- village caused the villagers in surrounding villages to flee into the forest in case the column came to their villages as well. Most of the villagers were unable to take blankets and clothes with them when they fled. November is the beginning of the cold season, when night temperatures can drop close to freezing in these hills, but the villagers are unable to light fires out of fear of the nearby SPDC troops. Some of the villagers have become sick and have coughs and fevers because of the cold. The cold is especially bad for the children and the elderly. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E28: Internally displaced children in the forest. Children like these have few opportunities for play and must often grow up early while helping their parents to survive in the forest. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E36, E37, E38, E39: Villager children from Nyaunglebin District who fled with their families into western Papun District in late 2001. They came to Papun District after avoiding SPDC Army units that had entered their area to hunt down any villagers remaining in hiding in the forest. These photos were taken at the temporary hiding site they have built near xxxx village. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E43, E44: Villagers from T--- flee their village in Nyaunglebin District on November 12th 2001 after receiving word that a combined column of SPDC troops from IB’s #4 and 76 and LIB #111 under Captain Htun Lwin were approaching. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E45, E46: Villagers from T--- and K- villages, Nyaunglebin District, flee into the forest after SPDC soldiers entered the area in late November 2001. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E47: Children from P--- and Y--- villages, Papun District, during a rest stop while fleeing their villages in late November 2001. Internally displaced children often have little chance of receiving much of an education and are often malnourished as a result of constantly having to flee the SPDC Army. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E48: Children stand in the shelter their parents have built after fleeing SPDC troops in Nyaunglebin District and coming to an internally displaced villager site in western Papun District in early 2002. Note that there is very little inside the hut and certainly no toys for the children to play with. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E49, E50, E51: Three families from villages in Papun District who could no longer endure the hardships of living in the forest and fled to refugee camps in Thailand in early 2002. Saw T---, 47 years old, and his family from P--- village (Photo #E49). He was a hill field farmer but SPDC soldiers destroyed his food and burned his house. Saw W---, 30 years old, and his family from S--- village (Photo #E50). A hill field farmer, he was unable to stay in his village and work his fields because of the constant activities of SPDC soldiers in the area, so he took his family and came to a refugee camp. Saw G---, 35 years old, was a hill field farmer in P--- village before SPDC soldiers came up and burned his house and all his possessions (Photo #E51). His family was no longer able to stay in the village so they fled to seek refuge in Thailand. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E54, E55, E56: Villagers from M---, T---, P--- and Y--- villages in western Papun District flee approaching SPDC Army columns in late November 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E59, E60, E61, E62: Villagers from B---, P---, N--- and K--- villages in eastern Papun District. Naw Y--- (Photo #E59), a 40 year old married hill field farmer, and Naw H--- (Photo #E60), a 56 year old married hill field farmer, lived in B--- and P--- villages until December 18th 2001. On that day, LIB #341 under Commander Myint Tin and IB #19 under Commander Moe Kyaw came to their villages and burned down the villagers' paddy barns and houses together with all of their belongings. The soldiers also took some of her poultry to eat and killed the rest. On December 21st the soldiers went on to burn K--- village and then N--- village on the 22nd. Villagers from K--- village told KHRG researchers that there was a primary school in the village run by the villagers. It had one teacher and 21 students, but the school was burned along with the rest of the village. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E63: Naw K--- is a 26 year old married hill field farmer from K--- village in eastern Papun District. On December 18th 2001, LIB #341 and IB #19 drove her family and seven others to a relocation site at xxxx Army camp. The soldiers burned down all of the houses after they left. The relocated villagers were provided with no food or building materials at the relocation site, so after staying there a few days they fled into the forest. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E64: Children from D--- village in eastern Papun District who were forced to flee with their parents when SPDC soldiers came to relocate and burn their village in late December 2001. Their parents told KHRG they would rather flee with their children into the forest than live in an SPDC relocation site, where they know that people find it difficult to provide for their children due to the heavy demands for forced labour and 'fees'. This photo was taken a month later in January 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E65: Villagers from T--- village in eastern Papun District rest on their way to the xxxx River in January 2002. They no longer stay in their village since the SPDC burned down the village and the paddy barns and destroyed all of their belongings in December 2001. They have nothing left to eat. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E71, E72: M--- villagers from eastern Nyaunglebin District come back from xxxx where they had fled after SPDC soldiers of IB #32, LID #33 came and burned their houses in late 2001. They were going back to see what remained of their houses and fields and to go to school after hearing that the soldiers had left the area. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E73: H--- villagers in Nyaunglebin District take a break while fleeing SPDC soldiers in December 2001. The villagers did not dare to stay in their village anymore after SPDC troops began operating in the area. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E76, E77, E78: Internally displaced villagers in Toungoo District at their hiding places in the forest in March 2002. Saw T--- (Photo #E76) and his children lived in K--- village before fleeing. Naw M--- (Photo #E77) and her family are originally from N--- village, but were forced to flee when SPDC troops came to their village. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E82: The family of Saw T--- from T--- village in eastern Papun District flees the SPDC’s Army. The SPDC burned their village, rice barns and all of their belongings in December 2001 so they could no longer stay in the village. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E83: Three children from K--- village in Papun District collect firewood. They fled with their families into the forest after SPDC soldiers came to their village and destroyed it in late 2001. Children of internally displaced villagers often have to take on responsibilities for work that would normally be performed by adults just so the family can survive. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E92: This family from K--- village in eastern Papun District does not have any rice or paddy anymore and they can no longer work their hill field because the SPDC troops are operating in the area. They have to go and ask for food from other villages. To do this they have to avoid patrolling SPDC soldiers and hope that they do not step on a landmine. They told a KHRG researcher that they are afraid to go, but they have to do it anyway. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E100, E101, E102: These villagers have built temporary shelters in the forest on the Thai side of the Burma-Thai border and hope to get into one of the refugee camps. They were originally from T--- and K--- villages in northwestern Papun District, but when SPDC soldiers entered their villages, destroyed their paddy, and burned some of the houses, the villagers could no longer stay there and fled. The 39 people who fled from these villages have made small shelters out of tarpaulins to stay in and spread leaves on the ground to sleep on. This photo was taken in May 2002 and the rains had already started. The villagers were having difficulty making fires to cook what little food they had and shared with each other. Their children were sick because of the rain, lack of food and inadequate shelter. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E104: Naw H---, 33 years old, fled K--- village on January 5th 2002 when SPDC soldiers came to the village. It was harvest time but the villagers were unable to work their fields because of the SPDC troops operating nearby. Her husband died of an illness because there was no medicine and she could no longer work her field, so she has fled to try to get into a refugee camp in Thailand. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E106: This three year old child from P--- village in Papun District was walking around and crying and wanted to go back home. He was forced to flee along with his parents and the other villagers when SPDC soldiers came to their village in early May 2002. He asked his parents to go back, but they cannot go yet. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E108, E109, E110: Villagers from T--- village, Papun District, flee SPDC soldiers conducting an operation in the area to clear it of civilians. Five battalions of Military Operations Command #10 were involved: LIB’s #366, 367, 369, 370 and 364. This photo was taken in May 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E112: This small child from B--- village, Papun District, was forced to flee with his parents when SPDC soldiers entered the area in May 2002. The three year old had to walk in the rain with nothing to cover himself but a banana leaf. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E114: Naw W---, 10 years old, is a villager from K--- village in eastern Papun District. Her family was forced to flee into the forest after SPDC military operations near their village made it impossible to stay there anymore. Her parents have to go and weed the small hill field they have in the forest, so Naw W--- must stay home and pound the family’s paddy for them to eat. This photo was taken in June 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E115: These two children from D--- village in eastern Papun District are no longer able to go to school because their family has had to flee SPDC troops operating in the area. They now have to stay in an internally displaced villager hiding site. Their parents have to go and work in their field, so the children have to take on the responsibility of pounding the rice every evening for their evening meal. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E122, E123: Children at xxxx internally displaced villager hiding site in northern Papun District play football after school has finished for the day. The children in hiding sites such as this spend much of their time after studying helping their parents with household chores or taking care of siblings, and have little chance to play. They are using a pomelo as a football because they do not have anything else. They are luckier than most displaced children in that their parents have managed to build them a school here. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E124: Naw D---, 10 years old, and her sister Naw S---, 7 years old, pound rice under their house in the xxxx hiding site in northern Papun District. Both of the girls go to school during the day but they must pound paddy afterwards so their family can eat in the evening. SPDC activity in the area has made it difficult for villagers in the area to work their fields and find enough food to eat. Their father has gone to find paddy in another place and their mother must go to weed their small field leaving the children to take care of chores around the house like pounding the paddy. Sometimes these children do not have enough food to eat when they go to school. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E125, E126: These two small children from D--- village, Papun District, are carrying water in the bamboo tubes on their backs for their mother to drink. Their mother is sick and their father was shot dead by SPDC soldiers in 2001. Children are often forced to grow up early and take on responsibilities far beyond their age. This is especially so for children who have lost a parent or are living in hiding in the forest. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E127: Refugee children in Nu Po refugee camp in Thailand playing in a stream which runs near the camp. Opportunities for play such as this are infrequent for children in Burma. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H1: This 10 month old baby was born in xxxx village in Thaton District. The child is seriously malnourished. The constant forced labour, crop quotas, fees and looting leaves the villagers with little time to work their fields or to find enough food to feed their families. There is also very little medicine available in the area to treat the children. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E128, E129: These villagers from W--- village in western Papun District are no longer able to stay in their village because of the operations of Tactical Operations Command #333, LID #33 in the area. The villagers are living on small platforms in the forest with no walls or roofs. Although it is the middle of cold season, the villagers are unable to light fires because of the nearness of SPDC units. They must sleep in very old mosquito nets, if they have them, and some of the villagers are sick but there is no medicine. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E130: This child from M--- village in southwestern Papun District was being treated for malaria by a Karen medic in the area. When the child did not get any better, he was sent to a clinic in xxxx village. Before his family could get him to the clinic, their child died along the way. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E132: Naw T---, 29 years old, gave birth to twins while fleeing SPDC soldiers of LIB #119 who came to her village on January 30th 2002. She is a hill field farmer with six people in her family and lived in P--- village, Papun District. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H2: The constant demands by the SPDC for forced labour, fees and extortion money has left these boys in Dooplaya District without the opportunity to study. Rather than going to school, they must watch over these cows while their parents work their fields or perform forced labour for the SPDC. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H3: Teachers and students of a village school in Dooplaya District. The partially completed school behind them is being built by the villagers themselves. Although this school is in a village controlled by the SPDC, no money or any other assistance is provided for the school. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H4: The teachers and students of xxxx primary school in Pa’an District. This school has four standards [grades] and two teachers. The teachers receive 5,000 Kyat at the end of the year from the SPDC. Whenever SPDC or DKBA soldiers operate in the area they lay landmines and the students do not dare to come to school anymore. They have to wait until the KNLA comes and removes the landmines. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H5: The teachers and students of xxxx village school in southeastern Pa’an District. A researcher who visited the area reported that the students do not have enough materials and are in need of books and pens. The school does not receive any support from the SPDC and the villagers are too poor to provide much more than a bamboo and thatch building and some rice for the teachers. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #H6, H7: The interior of xxxx primary school, Pa’an District, during a lesson in November 2001. This school is under SPDC control and the primary school teacher receives a salary from the SPDC of 4,500 Kyat per month. This salary is not enough, because the teachers who must buy their own food and are subject to the same demands for forced labour and fees that the other villagers. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H8: The interior of xxxx school in Pa’an District. This school has four standards [grades]. and doubles as a worship hall for Dta La Ku Karen villagers [a religious sect among the Karen in some regions]. The school is supported by the villagers themselves and does not have enough teaching materials, as evidenced by the clearly broken blackboards in the photo. A researcher in the area also reported that there are numerous leaks in the school’s roof. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H9: Karen children in a village under SPDC control in Dooplaya District learn the Karen language in the nighttime. The SPDC does not allow ethnic languages to be taught in schools. Classes are often taught in the nighttime because this is the only time available and to avoid SPDC scrutiny. The teacher is usually another villager who can read and write the language well enough to teach it. Many Karen fear the loss of their language, which has already happened in many Karen villages in the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #H10: The middle school in xxxx village, Thaton District. There are seven standards [grades] in the school. The students at the school want to learn the Karen language, but the SPDC does not allow it. The SPDC says that the school is theirs, but the villagers have to pay for everything; salaries, teaching supplies, textbooks, upkeep of the school, etc. Villagers who do not have money still have to try to pay if they want to send their children to the school. The villagers have to pay each teacher 20,000 Kyat per year. The SPDC never pays the teachers’ salaries. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E136, E137, E138, E139: The teachers and students of the school at P---, northern Papun District. Originally from H--- village, they had to flee when the village was burned by the SPDC. They no longer receive any assistance from any group and now teach for free with some rice given to them by other villagers. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #E140: Naw A---, 23 years old, had come up from xxxx township in central Burma to teach in the mountains. She was forced to flee with her pupils after SPDC troops entered K--- village in Papun District and the school had to be abandoned. The photo was taken at an internally displaced villager hiding site where she is continuing to teach. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Photo #E141: The students and school teacher of H--- village, Papun District, who were forced to flee into the mountains when they received word of the approach of SPDC troops. They have made a new school at an internally displaced villager hiding place in the forest. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Photo #E142: The school built by T--- villagers in the forest at their new hiding place. They have not yet been able to build walls and a roof for the school and the chalkboard consists of four uneven boards painted black. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Photos #E143, E144: Assistant Headmaster P--- (Photo #E143) and teacher Naw E--- (Photo #E144) teach at a school for internally displaced children in Papun District. P--- is 25 years old and single. Naw E--- is 21 years old and also single. In 1999 and 2000 the school was located at T--- in Nyaunglebin District. Due to pressure from the SPDC Army the school was moved to xxxx on the border with Papun District in 2000. The school was forced to move again in 2001. The students have to study under makeshift shelters while sitting on straw on the ground until a new school can be built. The teachers told a KHRG researcher that they do not have enough teaching materials for all the students. [Photos: KHRG researcher]Photo #E145: Naw B--- is in the Second Standard (Second Grade) at a school for internally displaced children in Papun District. She told KHRG researchers that she does not want to learn in the jungle anymore. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Photos #E146, E147, E148: Naw D--- uses a table placed on its side as a makeshift blackboard at a school for internally displaced children in Papun District. She is 38 years old and has been teaching in the school for three years. She is also the headmistress, but she told researchers that she will not teach anymore in the future. Photo #E148 is Naw L---, a KGB [Kindergarten Year #2] student. She told KHRG researchers that when she returned to her village after the soldiers left, she saw her house, school and church all burning. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #E149, E150: Teachers and students from L--- who fled into the forest in Papun District when SPDC troops swept through the area in an operation to clear it of civilians. This photo was taken in December 2001. [Photos: KHRG researcher] Photos #E151, E152: Students continue their lessons in a small school built in their hiding place in the forest in Nyaunglebin District. Displaced villagers from two villages have come to this place and there is not enough room in the school so some of the students have to learn under the trees. The children have to study in conditions like this because SPDC units have come close to their area and the villagers are no longer able to live in their villages. This photo was taken in January 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher] Photo #E153: This boy used to be a student at xxxx school in Nyaunglebin District, but now he is studying at yyyy [an internally displaced villager hiding site]. SPDC troops came and arrested all the students and the teacher at his old school. He alone was able to escape and go to study at another school. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #G2: S---, a 17 year old Shan from xxxx township in Shan State, was arrested by SPDC soldiers of LIB #xxx in his hill field in June 2001 and forced to porter for them. When they went back to their camp 25 of the 30 porters were released, but the five who were 16 and younger were kept and forced to join the Army. He was then sent to a training camp. After training he was assigned to LIB #xxx. He eventually was able to escape from the battalion during operations in Nyaunglebin District in December 2001. After this photo was taken he attempted to cross the border into Thailand and was arrested by the Thai military. He has not been heard from since, and may have been handed over to SPDC authorities as a deserter. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Photo #G3: M---, 17 years old, was a soldier with LIB #xxx in xxxx. A Burman, he lived in yyyy outside zzzz town before he joined the Army. The battalion, under Battalion Commander S--- was operating in Toungoo District when M--- deserted in early 2002. Note the poor state of his uniform. This photo was taken in January 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #D45, D46: On December 9th 2001 at 6 o’clock in the morning, Police Corporal Z--- and Lance Corporal H--- were on duty at the xxxx quarter checkpoint in Kawkareik town. Both men were drunk and began verbally harassing a village woman, Nan M---, from yyyy village. The 18 year old girl was coming back from Thamehnya Mountain [where a famous Buddhist monastery is located near Pa’an town]where she had gone to worship at a monastery. She was questioned by the two policemen who also took 1,000 Kyat from her. Her cousin, Saw Htay Win, happened to arrive at the checkpoint at this time. The 10th Standard [Grade] student from Kawkareik High School #2 went to help her. The police told him, “This does not concern you. Don’t come and bother us.” Saw Htay Win said, “It does concern me. This is my cousin, my younger sister [a relative term since she is younger than him] and I am not satisfied with what you are doing.” The policemen than came closer to Saw Htay Win and punched him. One of the policemen picked up a stick and hit him on the head. Saw Htay Win became dizzy. The other policeman pulled his gun and shot Saw Htay Win in the right shoulder. The bullet traveled down through his liver and intestine killing Saw Htay Win. The police sent the young man’s body to xxxx Hospital before his parents could come for him. The doctors cut open his head and his torso to remove the bullet. They then sewed him back up and placed him in the morgue. When the young man’s parents went to ask about the incident no one dared to say anything. The parents then went to meet the two police men who were responsible but they were not allowed. The parents wanted to take his body back to be buried in their village, but the authorities would not allow it and wanted him buried beside the Army camp near xxxx town. More than 200 students demonstrated for at least two days because the authorities took no action against the two policemen. The uprising was calm, but the immigration police told the teachers of High School #x that they had better control their students or harsh action would be taken. The teachers told the students’ parents to control them. The authorities have yet to do anything about it and the parents are still unable to take their son home to be buried. The young man’s cousin, Nan M---, has become mentally unstable because of the event. Saw Htay Win was involved in many sports competitions for boxing, football, running and javelin and he won many awards for his athletic ability. On the morning of December 9th he was going to Pa’an to attend a boxing competition which was to be held on December 10th. Photo #D46 is of Saw Htay Win's medals that he won in sports competitions and for scholastic achievement. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #F30,F32, F33: Saw A--- (Photos #F28 and F29), 37 years old, and Saw H--- (Photos #F30 and F31), 14 years old, were going to buy food in xxxx village on March 22nd 2002 with 18 other villagers from yyyy village. At 6:40 in the morning they stepped on landmines at zzzz on a path beside the xxxx River in Toungoo District. The landmines had been laid by SPDC Infantry Battalions #53, 264 and 30. Both men died immediately. These photos were taken on March 23rd 2002. Photo #F33 shows Saw N--- (on the left), a 12 year old, fifth standard student, whose father, Saw A---, was killed by the landmines. Photos #F28 through F31 were taken where the men actually died, while photo #F32 shows the bodies together in preparation for burial. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
