Gambling

In February 2016, villagers reported that the BGF and KNU/KNLA-PC leaders celebrated Ar Wer day[15] in Nabu, Hlaingbwe, Paingkyon and Don Yin townships in Hpa-an District. The armed groups engaged in gambling activities during the celebration.[16]

According to the local villagers, each dry season the BGF and KPC leaders in Hpa-an District celebrate Ar Wer day for the purpose of raising money for their groups. For the implementation of Ar Wer day, the BGF and KPC leaders hired Karen traditional done dancers and traditional Myanmar dramatists for the performance while the leaders engaged in and encouraged gambling among the attendants. There were many types of gambling that were played during the Ar Wer day celebration. The groups that were hired to perform at the celebration were paid between 700,000 kyat (US $574.87)[17] and 1,000,000 kyat (US $821.24) for three nights performance by the BGF and KPC leaders. This gambling is organised for more than one month in the summer across different locations. The BGF and KPC leaders collected gambling taxes every night from the gambling organisers and they used some of this money to pay the performance groups.

Specifically, in Paingkyon Township, the BGF leaders who organised the gambling were from Battalion #1015 and #1016, and the KNU/KNLA-PC’s Operations Command #3 leaders and soldiers from Htaw Meh Pah’s Battalion. The locations where the BGF and KNU/KNLA-PC conducted Ar Wer day were on villagers’ farms and these fields were polluted with rubbish left behind after the celebrations. According to the local villagers, the farm owners were not pleased with the actions of the BGF and KNU/KNLA-PC, therefore they reported the issue to village leaders, monks, KNU/KNLA-PC soldiers and BGF soldiers. After their concern was widely known in the area, the Ar Wer day celebration was arranged to be carried out on unfarmed lands where the villagers do not grow paddy, to avoid this pollution problem again. However, villagers also raised their concerns that this type of event can create social problems, as it encourages gambling additions. Many villagers gambled away their gold, money and properties.

Witchcraft killing incidents

In 2016, KHRG received three separated killing cases related to separate witchcraft accusations that occurred between April and September 2016 in Paingkyon Township, Hpa-an District.[18]

Incident #1

The first incident happened on April 9th 2016, at night time, when a male B--- village villager named Saw C--- was dragged by a group of villagers who beat him to death with wooden sticks. The case happened in B--- village, Taung Sone village tract, Paingkyon Township, Hpa-an District.[19]

Saw C--- was said to be suspected of practicing witchcraft by B--- villagers. According to Saw C---’s wife Naw A---, her husband was suspected of burying cursed items including red seeds, charcoal from cremations, an ogre (spirit) doll and stones possessed with evil spirits under other villagers’ houses. When social conflict occurred in the village, villagers suspected that witchcraft was to blame, blaming Saw C---. Villagers told Naw A--- that when her husband had been alive he had boasted to other villagers that he could not be arrested or killed with a knife or gun because of his witchcraft powers. However, Naw A--- explained that she had been married to her husband for 19 years and she was not aware of such issues and no villagers had raised their concerns directly to her prior to her husband’s murder. Naw A--- stated that,

“I had never heard about this [accusations that my husband made their family argue with each other] before. I only heard it after my husband was killed. They [gossipers] said they did not dare to talk to me about it frankly when my husband [was] alive. I replied to them, “Why did you not say this to his wife [me] when he was still alive, and you could still come and tell me? If you told me, I would have told my husband and taught him moral values and what is right and wrong.” They said, “We did not dare to talk about it because we were afraid that this information [witchcraft] would spread [to the authorities].” However, they dared to do it [kill my husband] in secret. They said they did it openly, and everyone knew it [but I did not know who killed my husband].”

Finally, the killing case of Saw C--- was brought before the KNU at the Paingkyon Township level and the KNU’s township authorities held a meeting with the victim’s wife Naw A---, the victim’s relatives and B--- villagers in March 2017. In the meeting, villagers admitted that they were all included in making the decision to kill Saw C---. Eventually, all villagers agreed that they would provide financial support to pay for the funeral, in addition to helping build a house for Naw A--- and her children, and supporting two of Naw A---’s younger sons, the youngest being five, in education until they reach 18 years old. As much of the village was involved in the decision to kill Saw C---, KNU was unable to take direct punitive action against all the perpetrators. However, during a meeting to discuss the killing, Paingkyon Township’s KNU administrator asked all villagers present to sign an agreement stating that from now on, villagers must not commit any crime arbitrarily related to witchcraft. Following the signing, the agreement is said to be kept at the township office. The victims’ family members and relatives were said to have agreed with the decision that the KNU official had made for them.

Incident #2

The second separate incident occurred in August 2016, when a husband and wife of G--- village were shot and killed in two separated locations on the same night at 9 PM, in G--- village, T’Moh Kloh village tract, Paingkyon Township, Hpa-an District.[20]

According to local sources, the couple was suspected of practicing witchcraft and it is believed they were killed by Border Guard Force (BGF) soldiers under General Hpah Nwee, also known as Hpuh (Grandfather) Hpah Nwee. One year prior to the incident, the couple and their family members had been accused of practising witchcraft and underwent a ceremony where they drank promissory water as an oath to no longer practice witchcraft. This ceremony was performed at BGF General Hpah Nwee’s place, where the couple were told by General Hpah Nwee not to practice witchcraft anymore. The couple was killed almost a year after they drank the promissory water. 

In August 2016, the husband was shot and killed at his farm hut, whilst at the same time his wife was taken from her house and shot and killed in front of the village primary school. Both husband and wife were killed by machine gun. The people who killed the couple asked villagers to bury the dead bodies. The perpetrators also told the victims’ surviving family members,’ relatives and other villagers not to report about the killing case, threatening to kill all family members if they report the case and if news of the killings were to spread.

Following the threats, villagers felt afraid and were unwilling to report the killing case to authorities. The female victim’s mother stated that,

“I have been in fear since people killed my daughter and my son-in-law. [...] We were really afraid because people told us that they would kill all of us [relatives] if [information about] this case spreads and if other people know about it, or if they know for sure that people reported about this incident.”

Furthermore, as the woman was shot and killed directly outside the village school, at the time of reporting, teachers and students did not feel safe to teach and study at school anymore. Instead, they were teaching from a villager’s house.

Adding to an environment of insecurity and lack of rule of law, there has been no action from authorities for this case as the family report that they remain fearful to report it to authorities.

Incident #3

A further incident took place in Hpa-an District, September 2016 at 3 AM in the morning, when three family members were attacked by a group of armed robbers, which led to two of the family members being killed and one surviving with serious head wounds. According to the surviving family member, the elderly mother who had been killed had locally been accused of practicing witchcraft.  The villagers who were attacked were Naw L---, 43 years old who sustained a serious head injury, Naw L---’s mother Daw P---, 87 years old and her brother Maung W---, 48 years old, both of whom were shot and killed during the attack. The raiders also robbed 3,500,000 kyat (US$2567.81) and precious properties including jewellery that belonged to Naw L---’s family. The case took place in R--- village, K’Kyoh village tract, Paingkyon Township, Hpa-an District.[21]

According to the surviving victim Naw L---,

“People said my mother and my brother were practicing witchcraft. They said my mother had a stone which was possessed by a spirit, and that my brother went to the ground floor of other people’s houses [to practice witchcraft]. People who said my mother had a stone which was possessed by a spirit called us to my cousin T---’s house and questioned me. I replied to them we did not have it [the possessed stone], and if we had to drink promissory water we would drink it in the village, but they did not do it [make us drink it]. Three traditional healers said it was my mother alone who did it [brought evil spirits] to all of the villagers’ children who got such illness and high temperatures that their children were delirious.”

The three family members had met with many shamans in order to discover and heal the evil spirits which they were accused of having in them. They drank promissory water two times in front of village leaders and villagers in attempts to quell village suspicions.

Eventually, according to Naw L---, the perpetrators who robbed her family and murdered her mother and brother were arrested by the Burma/Myanmar police and detained in Taung Ka Lay jail of Hlaingbwe Township, Hpa-an District. The people who were arrested and detained by the Burma/Myanmar police are four male members of the Karen Peace Council (also known as the KNLA/KNU-PC) from Battalion #773. According to local sources, as of March 2017, Paingkyon Township KNU leaders had met with village tract leaders and Naw L--- in order to address the complaint that village tract leaders had been involved in the decision to kill the family members. During the meeting, village tract leaders denied the accusation that they had been involved, and reported that they had not been aware of the plan to commit this crime. Additionally, Naw L--- reported that the Burma/Myanmar police had found all the property stolen from her and, despite promising to return it to Naw L---, no stolen property had been returned.

Fighting between DKBA (Buddhist-splinter) and joint forces of Tatmadaw and BGF results in displacement and movement restrictions for local villagers

In September 2016, fighting happened in Meh Th’Waw area, Hlaingbwe Township, Hpa-an District which led to thousands of villagers becoming displaced.[22]

During September-October 2016, fighting occurred between the joint forces of Tatmadaw and BGF, and DKBA (Buddhist splinter) in Meh Th’Waw area. Thousands of villagers in Meh Th’Waw area, Hlaingbwe Township, Hpa-an District became displaced after the BGF and Tatmadaw military targeted villages with mortar shells and the opposing side, DKBA (Buddhist splinter), forced villagers to work as porters. Whilst the fighting had subsided as of October 2016, both armed groups remain in operation in the area and village land is now contaminated with new landmines planted by the DKBA (Buddhist splinter). For these reasons, thousands of villagers from Meh Th’Waw area do not feel safe to return and therefore remain displaced in IDP camps.

With regard to the details of the fighting, on September 9th 2016, the fighting broke out between the DKBA (Buddhist splinter) and joint forces of BGF soldiers from Cantonment Area #4 and Tatmadaw soldiers from Military Operations Command (MOC) #12 in Meh Th’Waw area.  During the fighting more than six thousand villagers were encouraged to displace from their villages by senior monk, Sayadaw U Thuzana, who provided trucks to move villagers to Myaing Gyi Ngu (Kaw Taw) Town.  Other villagers chose to flee and seek safety in nearby villages and across the Moei River to refugee camps in Thailand. Villagers who were displaced to Myaing Gyi Ngu Town and other nearby villages were provided with shelter, clothing, food, health care and education services by local groups and Myanmar-based organisations. Regardless of this support, the displaced villagers have struggled considerably due to the impact of leaving their belongings, livestock, homes and land behind, such as Saw A--- and Saw B--- from E--- and F--- village respectively:

“Are there any livestock left in your village?

Saw A--- and Saw B---: Yes, the goats, chickens, and buffalo were left behind in the village.

So all of your belongings were left in your village?

Yes, some of them [our livestock] stepped on the landmines.

[…]

How many days did it take you to flee from your village to D--- village?

It took me one day to come here, but it was very hard for us to travel with children in the rainy season. We did not bring any rain clothes with us. My kids were crying when we were fleeing. 

Did you flee in the night time?

Yes, we fled in the night time.

Did you flee there by yourself?

Yes, we fled here by ourselves. 

Had there been any shelling in your village?

No, we just heard gunfire around our village.

Can you tell me how the incident happened, step-by-step?

Saw B---: We faced many difficulties even before we fled. Since we have been facing many things before the fighting took place, we felt more unsafe and it made us full of worry. If we say it in another way, when we put many kilos of pork on the weighing scale there will be too much weight for the weighing scale to weigh [we had already endured so much we were at a breaking point]. When the fighting occurred we did not feel safe and we thought carefully about the situation. We did not dare to face the BGF and the DKBA. As we were villagers this incident became very difficult for us. They [DKBA splinter] did not respect us because they poured all our rice on the ground.”

In the run up to the fighting that began on September 9th 2016, villagers faced harassment and abuse by the DKBA (Buddhist splinter). Villagers were ordered by the DKBA soldiers to porter food and serve on sentry duty.  In A--- village, when the fighting broke out in the nearby areas, DKBA’s soldiers ordered two to three villagers from A--- village to porter for the soldiers in shift rotation, without pay. Villagers were ordered to carry woven baskets with soldiers’ food, ammunition and landmines inside. The DKBA soldiers laid these landmines in the forest. 

Naw P---[23] also reported to a KHRG community member that, before her and other villagers from A--- village fled to Myaing Gyi Ngu Town, fighting had occurred in her village because DKBA soldiers had been based there temporarily. According to Naw P---, BGF and the allied Tatmadaw soldiers entered into areas near to A--- village and they exchanged fire. Because of this fighting, artillery that had been shelled by BGF and Tatmadaw soldiers fell and exploded in A--- village but fortunately did not hit any A--- villagers. Due to this incident however, A--- villagers were afraid and wanted to flee from the village to protect themselves from further risk, but DKBA soldiers told them not to be afraid or flee. Instead, DKBA soldiers suggested that the villagers dig bomb shelters under their houses and stay in the village. Later, villagers heard that Sayadaw U Thuzana had arranged trucks to pick up villagers from fighting areas so many of them decided to use this transport option to leave for Myaing Gyi Ngu Town instead of staying in A--- village.

Landmine incidents

In the above case of recent fighting and displacement, displaced villagers’ safety and livelihoods were also threatened by landmines. IDPs (internally displaced persons) reported to KHRG that prior to the fighting, the DKBA (Buddhist splinter) had recently planted landmines in those areas. Most of these landmines are reported to be hand-made, and are planted in village areas and work places, causing severe risk for villagers who want to tend to their fields. Before the villagers fled, some of the villagers’ buffaloes had already stepped on the DKBA landmines, causing injury and potential death to livestock. Then, the fighting forced villagers to leave the rest of their livestock behind, leaving the livestock exposed to the same fate as the injured buffaloes.

Not only livestock have been injured or killed by DKBA (Buddhist splinter) landmines since September 2016. At least one village head has been killed and another injured by landmines planted in the area since the fighting in September 2016.

On September 16th 2016, A--- village head U T--- stepped on a landmine and died beside A--- village. U T--- stepped on a landmine while he went back to his village to be with his villagers who remained in the village area rather than displacing himself to be away from the fighting. As village head, he remained with villagers with a feeling of duty to help and protect them from any form of harm.

According to U T---’s wife, Naw P---, U T--- did not die immediately but villagers were fearful to carry him back to the village from where he lay injured from the landmine. This was because when he stepped on the DKBA landmine, the BGF and Tatmadaw soldiers who were based in the village opened fire at the location where the landmine had exploded. Instead of carrying him back to the village, the villagers therefore brought him back to their hiding place in the valley. Then they sent some villagers to inform the BGF and Tatmadaw soldiers about the incident and to allow them to safely bring their village head back to the village for treatment. U T--- died on the way when villagers carried him back to the village because of the injuries that he had sustained from the landmine explosion.

Additionally, according to a responsible leader of Myaing Gyi Ngu’s IDP site, on October 1st 2016, an E--- villager name Saw K---, who is over 20 years old, stepped on a landmine in E--- village area, close to A--- village, and sustained injuries.

Healthcare improvement

In Hpa-an District, villagers could access and rely on the healthcare systems from both the Burma/Myanmar government and the KNU, in addition to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local community based organisations (CBOs) active on healthcare issues. Due to the increase in service providers, more services were easily available for villagers.

In Hlaingbwe Township, the Back Pack Health Worker Team (BPHWT) provided healthcare and treatment in the villages from Hkler Day, Kwee Law Hploh, Daw K’Kya, Meh T’Moo and Klaw Kyaw village tracts. In other village tracts, there are village-level clinics however, if the diseases are serious, the patients are sent to hospitals in Hlaingbwe or Hpa-an Town.

Additionally, KNU had built three hospitals in Paingkyon Township in 2015, and in 2016 many healthcare providers including the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW), Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC), local community health workers and the Maternal Child Health (MCH) team were working together in those hospitals. One of the hospitals was built between Pee T’Hka and Noh Hkwee village tracts, while one more was built in T’Moh village tract. The third hospital was built in Wa Mee Klah village tract.  These hospitals are run under Paingkyon Township’s KNU administration and central KNU.

These three hospitals have OP (Out-Patient) and IP (In-Patient) departments. The health workers from the hospitals also go to the villages and collaborate with local health workers therefore, more villagers gradually have access to their healthcare services.

The improvement in access to a widened variety of healthcare services also involved the Burma/Myanmar government in 2016, who constructed clinics in Paingkyon Township. Some NGOs also tried to access the area to support healthcare on the ground. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in addition to other NGOs entered and implemented health projects including constructing clinics, wells, toilets and installing water pipes for local villagers in Paingkyon Township, Hpa-an District. Therefore, villagers in Hpa-an Township benefitted from improved access to basic health care in 2016.[24]

However, whilst the Burma/Myanmar government set up clinics and placed some of their health workers in certain areas of Hpa-an District, some areas which are more isolated continued to lack medicine and health workers. Villagers also reported that they feel suspicious that the Burma/Myanmar government just built the clinics to claim ownership of local land. In some of these Burma/Myanmar government clinics, the medicine that is stored is out of date, according to villagers who went to take medicine from the clinics. Villagers and local leaders reported this issue to the Myanmar government and the KNU with the hope that this issue can be resolved.

Education

In Hpa-an District, prior to the 2012 preliminary ceasefire[25] between the Burma/Myanmar government and the KNU, there were only a few schools in each township of Hpa-an District, especially in KNU controlled areas. However, following the signing of the preliminary ceasefire and the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement,[26] more schools have been constructed by both the Myanmar government and the KNU, as well as other CBOs and NGOs. Therefore, as of 2016 there has been greater availability of education facilities in Hpa-an District. Most of these schools are primary schools which teach up to Fourth Standard[27] and are mainly run by the education departments from Myanmar government and KNU. Students who finish at Burma/Myanmar government primary schools must also attend Burma/Myanmar government high schools in nearby towns to continue their studies, while students who finish from KNU primary schools must attend KNU high schools as they have been schooled under a different curriculum. Often the KNU high schools are a little bit far from some villages with KNU primary schools, especially in Paingkyon Township. Students who finish primary school in this Township have to go to study at KNU’s high schools in Meh T’Ree village and Thoo Mgeh Nee area, along the Thai-Burma border, to continue their studies.[28]

Conclusion

Throughout 2016, villagers in Hpa-an District have continued to suffer from ongoing human rights abuses due to several armed groups continuing to operate in the district and clash over the administration of territories.  Heavy fighting between the joint forces of Tatmadaw, BGF against DKBA (splinter group) in Meh Th’Waw area led to massive displacement and landmine contamination in the district.

In addition, the arbitrary killings over witchcraft suspicions demonstrate the lack of rule of law and justice for villagers. Villagers are also continually facing taxation demands from several armed actors which aggravates livelihood difficulties, and gambling encouraged by armed groups risks social harmony in the district.

The concern over religious tension between Buddhist and non-Buddhist community members continue to arise due to the construction of religious stupas on church compound and villagers’ house compounds. However, some villages have benefits from improvements of healthcare and education services in 2016.

Related to development, especially road construction, companies are seen to collaborate with armed groups and some villagers’ lands have been damaged whilst communal forest land has been logged to prepare for road construction, without consultation with affected villagers. However, the restitution of confiscated land and provision of land titles to villagers are a good example of recent government actions to secure villagers’ rights however, there remains widespread land insecurity throughout the district.