Type of Incident

Forced recruitment

Date of Incident(s)

May 29th 2012

Incident Location (Village, Township and District)

H--- village, Kyon Mon Thwel village tract, Hpa-an Township

Victim Information

Name

Age

Sex

Nationality

Family

Occupation

Religion

Position

Village

U D---

44

Male

Karen

Married with three children, eldest, 24 years, youngest, 3 years

Farming

Buddhist

Chairman

H---

Perpetrator information

Name

Rank

Unit

Based at

Commander's Name

Moe Nyo

Battalion Commander

Border Guard #1014

Noh Hpoh Moh

U La Ba

1. Explain the specific manner in which you collected this information.

On June 2nd 2012, I went to H--- village and I met and interviewed the [village] chairman Saw[4] D---. He told me about the Border Guard [Battalion] #1014, which is led by La Ba and Moe Nyo, who called a meeting on May 29th 2012 in B--- village and ordered the H---, B---, W---, X--- and Y--- villages to give five soldiers from each village.

2. Explain how the source verified information accuracy.

Related to this forced recruitment, Saw D---, the chairman from Kyon Mon Thwel village tract, attended the meeting held by Moe Nyo and La Ba in B--- village, and he reported that he was ordered to send five new soldiers from H---, and was forced to sign a pledge to try to find the people [recruits].

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.

On May 29th 2012, the Border Guard soldiers, Moe Nyo and La Ba, who are from B--- village, called the five villages, H---, B---, Y---, X--- and W---, to attend a meeting. In this meeting, the leader, Moe Nyo, gave an order forming Thaung Kyan Thu Sant Kyin Yay A Hpwe [anti-insurgency group]. Each village had to give five people, and if they couldn't, they had to give 50,000 kyat (US $58.07)[5] for each month to hire a soldier. At that time, during the meeting, the village leaders from every village, who attended the meeting, were forced to sign a pledge to continue to recruit [villagers as soldiers] until they get five people. The villagers who have to go [recruits] do not want to go, but they also don't have money to hire people, so this is a big problem for them.

Forced recruitment in these five villages began in 2010 by the military group which was led by Moe Nyo. Moe Nyo was a former DKBA leader. However, after the Burmese Government held an election in 2010 and transformed the DKBA into the Border Guard, he disagreed and he didn't listen to them, so he came back and lived in B--- village with his six or seven subordinates, because he didn't have the same opinion [as the Government]. Then, he formed Thaung Kyan Thu Sant Kyin Yay A Hpwe [anti-insurgency group] and demanded five villagers from each of the five villages [in the area]. One person has to serve for one year, and after one year, another person has to replace him. Currently, Moe Nyo is known to have returned and works with the Border Guard #1014, but he also formed peoples' militias on the side. The Burma Government might not know about [his] forming of the people's militia. Some villagers think that he will make money in the process. The villagers from H--- had to leave their village because of forced recruitment, because they dare not go serve as soldiers and they also don't have money [to opt-out].

Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided.

We have permission to use this information, but the name and the place of the person who gave this information should be secure.