Forced Labour and Killings Continue in Burma

|TOP|The number of displaced people in Karen State, Burma, has risen over 18,000, according to the latest reports from the Free Burma Rangers, a relief team working in eastern Burma.

Eyewitnesses report further killings, burning of villages, the capture of civilians, including children, and the use of forced labour, as the Burma Army is continuing its offensive in Karen State.

In one area, over 800 civilians have been captured and forced to work as porters for the military, along with over 1,000 prisoners.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s (CSW) National Director, Stuart Windsor, said: “This is attempted genocide unfolding before our very eyes. The scale of the attacks and the brutality of the atrocities are extremely difficult to believe. Yet this has been going on, in one form or another, for half a century. The United Nations Security Council needs to address the issue of Burma immediately, and we will be doing all we can to help make that happen.”

|AD|The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) reports that at least 27 Burma Army battalions are now poised to destroy hundreds of villages in the Papun hills. This, the KHRG claim, would “doubtless lead to the forced displacements of tens of thousands more.”

In a recent report, the KHRG emphasised that the current offensive, the worst since 1997, is not simply counter-insurgency.

In attacks in Muthraw District on May 20, a 17 year-old boy was killed and another wounded when the army opened fire on villagers who were in a farm hut in southern Luthaw Township. In Nyaunglebin District, a Burma Army landmine killed a Karen woman who was 5 months pregnant.

The international community has started paying attention to the crisis in Burma. On May 31, Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett , condemned the Burmese Government's decision to extend the house arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The United States also expressed alarm at Aung San Suu Kyi’s continuing detention and that of other pro-democracy figures. The US went further to announce that it will seek a UN Security Council resolution on Burma.

CSW Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, says: “It is difficult to imagine the indiscriminate brutality of these atrocities. Whilst we are pleased to see the US putting more pressure on Burma through the UN Security Council, we urge the rest of the international community to follow their lead and seek an end to these attacks by supporting a clear resolution.”