Thaton District is Karen State's most eastern district and the area where State Peace and Development (SPDC) control is most consolidated. Primarily flat agricultural land, the district sees only intermittent activity from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which holds no fixed positions. Visits from foreign tourists are even a casual occurrence at a few sites in the eastern and southern parts of the district, including boat trips up the initial reaches of the Salween River and to the famous Kyaikhtiyo "Golden Rock" Pagoda in Kyaikto Township. This contrasts starkly with other Karen areas, where access by foreigners is chiefly limited to aid groups operating covertly from Thailand.

In spite of its picturesque tourist sites, Thaton District continues to see a variety of abuses by SPDC and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers. Villagers are frequently placed under movement restrictions, limiting their ability to regularly access fields and conduct work necessary for successful agriculture and livelihood operations. In 2009, these movement restrictions took an especially heavy toll: villagers report that heavy rains and flooding during May and unusually large numbers of rats in September destroyed crops.[1] While these are natural parts of an agricultural economy, they took an unnatural toll because farmers have been prevented from responding by movement restrictions and competing demands on their time from forced labour.

These already precarious livelihood conditions in Thaton District, in large part resulting from SPDC and DKBA abuse, must support the weight of exploitative demands for forced labour, arbitrary taxation as well as conscription of soldiers for the DKBA. Though the area has been under consolidated SPDC control since the beginning of the decade, villagers must also still contend with abuses that are ostensibly part of SPDC and DKBA 'counter insurgency' efforts. Villagers continue to report that the SPDC and DKBA place unmarked landmines in civilian areas, conscript people as porters and 'human minesweepers' and harass and violently abuse alleged KNLA supporters.

SPDC and DKBA patrols, harassment and landmines

"They [the DKBA] accused me of taking rice to the KNLA soldiers. [DKBA officer Than Htun] asked me, 'Why didn't you come home this afternoon?' I answered him that I was just finding my buffalo, that's why I came home late [after an evening curfew]. He said, 'Don't you lie to me.' And I said, 'I'm not lying.' Then he told me that he would kill me. I said to him, 'What I can do? Even if you kill me, I'm telling you the truth: I didn't take any rice to them [the KNLA]. That's all.' At that time, one of his soldiers came and hit me in the head with his gun two times and I started getting dizzy. I asked him, 'Why do you do this to me when even the SPDC is leaving me alone?' He answered me, 'The SPDC may not kill you, but we will."

- Naw P--- (woman, 45), village head, Gk--- village, Pa'an Township, Thaton District (May 2009)

SPDC control of Thaton District is enforced by a variety of civilian and military actors. All government orders in the area are ultimately backed by the SPDC Army, under the command of Light Infantry Divisions (LIDs) #11, #22 and #44. [2]The DKBA is also increasingly active in the district, especially in the eastern townships of Bilin and Pa'an, which border Pa'an and Papun districts. Pa'an District is, following attacks on positions held by KNLA 7th Brigade in June 2009, almost wholly controlled by the DKBA and the group's central headquarters is located just across the Salween River at Myaing Gyi Ngu, in the northeastern part of the district's Lu Pleh Township. Papun, meanwhile, has in recent months become home to rising levels of DKBA activity. A variety of civilian, parastatal and militia groups also continue to enforce SPDC control of Thaton.[3] These include the pyithusit 'People's Militia' and Tha Gka Hsa Pa 'Anti-insurgency Group.'[4] Below are details regarding groups active in Thaton District during 2009, organised by Township:

In addition to the SPDC and DKBA forces described above, KNLA 1st Brigade, commanded by Saw Kyaw Lay, is also active in all townships of Thaton District, particularly Bilin Township, though its operations are limited because the brigade no longer controls any fixed positions. According to data released by the KNLA in August 2009, 11 clashes between the KNLA and SPDC occurred from January to June 2009; 4 occurred between the KNLA and DKBA during the same period. These are the lowest numbers reported by the KNLA in any district, and contrast starkly with totals released for neighbouring Papun and Pa'an districts, which saw respective combined totals of 223 and 72 clashes. [6] SPDC and DKBA patrols frequently accuse villagers of offering the KNLA support; accused villagers are often threatened, fined, beaten, tortured or even killed. All three armed groups also continue to place landmines in Thaton, including in areas used by civilians including roads, forest paths and agricultural land. It is important to note, however, that villagers consistently report that the KNLA warns them of landmine locations. According to villagers, SPDC and DKBA soldiers do not notify villagers of landmine placements, even when asked directly by villagers frightened of mines on or near their farms.

"DKBA soldiers plant landmines around our village. And, they do not tell us where they plant the landmines. Therefore, villagers are afraid of stepping on landmines and they dare not to go out to collect vegetables. Even when they go to their own hill fields, they have to go only on one path. We asked the DKBA to show us where they planted the landmines. We told them that the KNU informs us when they plant landmines, but the DKBA does not. Then, they [the DKBA] replied to us that they did not plant any landmines and that the mines do not belong to them. But a buffalo and a boy from another village [near Ht--- village] stepped on landmines which were planted by DKBA soldiers this year."

- Naw W--- (woman, 47), Ht--- village, Pa'an Township (May 2009)

On January 23rd 2009, for instance, DKBA soldiers ordered residents of Bpaw T'Bproo village to help construct a bridge and road connecting Bpaw T'Bproo and Thay La Bpaw villages, Pa'an Township. For the next month, every day 75 villagers from Bpaw T'Bproo were required to work as labourers aiding the construction, as were residents of four other area villages. [7] Worried that the KNLA might attack the construction project, the DKBA placed stringent movement restrictions on villagers, who were told they would be shot on sight if seen outside their villages at night or in the evening. Soldiers commanded by DKBA officer Than Htun then planted landmines in the area, around Bpyoh, Meh Theh, Ta Bpaw, and Gkah Meh villages. Officer Maung Bar Chah also planted landmines in areas around Pya Ghaw, Gkroo See, Maw Gka Lay and Kyaw Gkay Kee villages. Officer Maung Nyoh planted landmines in areas around Htee Poe Neh, Bpaw T'Bproo, Ler Kheh Khaw, and Gkwee T'Kaw villages. The officers did not notify villagers of the mines' locations, nor did they remove the mines after the project was completed. As late as six months later, in June 2009 KHRG confirmed that the DKBA had not removed the mines, nor had they notified villagers of their locations. Villagers told KHRG that, even though the KNLA had removed some of the mines, they were still afraid to move outside their villages. As of June 2009, the DKBA mines had wounded at least 30 cattle, though no injuries to humans were confirmed by KHRG.

Forced military recruitment and conscription of porters

The DKBA continues to forcibly conscript villagers in Thaton as the group prepares for its transformation into a government-controlled Border Guard Force. Following a meeting on May 7th at Myaing Gyi Ngu in which senior DKBA leaders discussed the transformation, DKBA Brigade #333 commander Maung Gyi ordered more than 170 village heads from eastern Thaton District to attend a meeting at which he discussed DKBA recruitment. Every village was required to meet a DKBA recruitment quota, Maung Gyi told the assembled village heads, and provide one recruit per 20 households.

Following this meeting, villagers have reported a variety of methods used to select men and boys to meet the DKBA recruitment quota. The most common method has been a village lottery, in which male villagers have taken numbers akin to the draft lottery used by the United States and other countries. Unlike the systems used internationally, however, these lotteries are not providing soldiers for an army attached to a democratically elected or accountable government. Instead, they are to provide soldiers for an armed group that unilaterally assumed power in an area via military force, is not accountable to villagers and which now largely functions to carry out orders given by the SPDC, which is also unaccountable to villagers. It is also important to note that the DKBA does not distinguish based upon age, and young boys have been recruited and forced to join and even serve in frontline conflict areas. [8] On July 8th 2009, for instance, Deputy Battalion Commander Thoung Ma Na of DKBA Brigade #333, Battalion #1 ordered villagers from Bp--- and T--- village tracts, Pa'an Township, to attend a meeting at T--- village to discuss the recruitment quota. Thoung Ma Na ordered villagers to record all male residents of the area between ages 12 and 50 so they could be made eligible for recruitment.

The DKBA recruitment is highly ad hoc, and villagers also report that families without a household head, fathers with young children and men in other contexts in which they would normally be granted an exception are not always being protected from the lottery. "Some villagers have to join DKBA army even if they have a new baby in their family because of the voting and it helps the village," a DKBA deserter told KHRG in an interview in October. "We can do nothing under the rule of the DKBA."[9]

In spite of the severity with which commander Maung Gyi informed village heads that they were required to provide recruits, villagers report that they have worked to avoid conscription in a variety of ways. [10] In the months following the May 18th meeting at Oh Daw, it appears that a significant number of villages have been able to negotiate cash payments rather than provision of recruits. While men from these villages have been able to avoid serving for the DKBA, this came at a high price; sums paid by the villages are shockingly large, given the weight of other exploitative demands by the SPDC and DKBA as well as restrictions on villagers' livelihood opportunities. Sums paid by 40 villages and confirmed by KHRG are summarized in the table below:

Because Thaton is flat and largely devoid of the mountainous or forested upland areas that provide hiding places for villagers protecting themselves from abuse in other Karen areas, villagers are not usually able to use hiding and flight as a method for resisting DKBA recruitment. In spite of the geographic obstacles, however, at least one village from Bilin Township - in its entirety - has decided to go into hiding rather than provide the DKBA with recruits. In June 2009, the headman of this village summarized the situation as follows:

"On May 18th 2009, DKBA Brigade #333 Commander Maung Gyi ordered one villager from every 20 households to join their military group. And he also said that anyone who is unable to carry out this order will be arrested and punished. All the villagers of Ht--- village decided to escape to the safe place because no one would like to join the DKBA military group. The villagers will agree to join the DKBA only if they are arrested. But the word 'escape' will never disappear from their minds."

The DKBA's push for recruits in Thaton has also coincided with ongoing conscription of villagers who are forced to act as porters. These villagers are required to carry equipment, as well as act as guides and walk in front of DKBA patrols as human minesweepers. Notably, it appears that the practice of conscripting porters, normally followed by both the SPDC and DKBA in rural areas, has also been occurring in Thaton Town. According to a resident of the town who spoke with KHRG, on July 11th the DKBA began seizing residents of Thaton Town to serve as porters. According to the woman who spoke with KHRG, at least 10 men from the area around her home hid themselves at night so they were less vulnerable to being seized by the DKBA. As of August 4th, these men continued to hide themselves. Notably, foreign tourists travelling from middle Burma to the southern peninsula must pass trough Thaton town, which lies along the main motor road and railway line connecting Rangoon, Burma's former capital and largest city, with Moulmein, which is just 43 miles (70 km) to the south, Burma's third largest city and the capital of Mon State.

"They [the DKBA] came and called 17 villagers to go as messengers for them. Those villagers had to go for three days and then the soldiers let them to come back to their villages. They [the villagers] said they had to carry military equipment as porters and they had to walk in front of the DKBA soldiers [to test for landmines and ambushes]."

- Saw H--- (male, 36), Gk--- village, Pa'an Township (February 2009)