After the swift response to the situation in Libya by the United Nations Security Council, humanitarian groups documenting more than 20 years of abuse by the Burmese military against ethnic Karen say it is high time the council took similar action on Burma

Published: 6/03/2011 at 12:00 AM

A lone medical worker zigzags his way through sun-browned rice fields to a distant river. Thick rows of trees mark the edges of the narrow, snaking watercourse that forms part of the Thai-Burma border.

PHOTO: PHIL THORNTON

In the distance, the overworked brakes on a pickup truck moan when a driver forces his vehicle to slow as he winds his way down a steep hill.

Hidden out of sight of the road, and the authorities on both sides of the river, hundreds of displaced Karen villagers have set up small shelters on the Thai side of the border in dried-out channels cut by the floods of the wet season. The shelters are scattered and basic _ small built-up wooden platforms, torn coloured picnic mats spread under trees or split bamboo poles to form ground covering, roofed by dried leaves, faded strips of material or blue plastic sheeting.

Blackened pots simmer over hot charcoal embers. Clothes washed in the muddy river dry over bushes. Small children pester tired parents for food and babies howl for mothers’ milk. The villagers don’t ask, but look in hope to the medical worker for rice, clothing, soaps and medicine. They also crave news of when the fighting that drove them from their village will stop, and they can return safely to their homes.

Under the trees and out of the glare of the hot sun, the villagers are angry. Angry at the Burmese army for destroying their homes, angry at having their livestock stolen or killed by marauding soldiers, angry that they have no choice in where they sleep at night, angry at having to put their lives on hold and angry at not being able to do anything as their rice and corn crops ripen and rot across the river in Burma.

WATCHING AND WAITING: Displaced villagers keep their spirits in difficult times.

Naw Dway Sein, a grandmother twice over, is taking refuge in the Thai riverbank camp with eight members of her family and 341 other villagers from Hler Kaw. “I’ve had enough of this. But what can we do? Every day we hear shooting, explosions, landmines. We want to go home, but we can’t. We’re not free here and we’re not free there.”

Naw Dway Sein and the villagers of Hler Kaw are not the only ones escaping to Thailand to avoid the fighting.

The Back Pack Health Worker Team estimates, “that as of mid-February 2011, as many as 10,575 Burmese villagers have crossed the border.” These displaced people are scattered in a number of makeshift camps on a narrow 800km strip along the Thai border provinces of Kanchanburi, Tak and Mae Hong Son.

LIFE ON HOLD: A young boy facing an uncertain future.

The Back Pack Health Worker Team is an independent, non-profit organisation that has been delivering primary health care for over 13 years to people in conflict zones and rural areas deep inside Burma _ where access to health care is otherwise unavailable.

The organisation’s secretary, Mahn Mahn, explained that villagers close to the border fled their homes after the Burmese army moved into the area to wage war

against factions of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

”There are at least 14 new battle sites and 21 hiding sites along both sides of the border and we have seven emergency Back Pack teams working with local community organisations to help 10,575 displaced people,” said Mahn Mahn, adding that 80 Back Pack teams of three to five medics offer medical services to 187,000 internally displaced people in eastern Burma.

Mahn Mahn accuses the Burmese army of deliberately targeting civilians by firing heavy mortars and artillery shells into villages, forcing people to take refuge in neighbouring Thailand.

MOVED TO ACTION: Long-time Back Pack Health Worker Team member Livingstone.

Getting across the border is not always a guarantee of safety. Mahn Mahn says Burmese army mortars have injured villagers and soldiers on the Thai side of the border.

On Jan 30 this year, two Thai soldiers were hit by an artillery shell and two young boys and a woman were wounded by mortars. In early February, 1,000 Thai people were evacuated in Tak’s Phop Phra district after shells landed in their village.

WE CAN’T GO HOME

Pa Tabaw, the village headman at Hler Kaw, says his people are terrified to return to their homes.

”We know soldiers have planted landmines in the village, on paths and around our fields. Last week, one of our villagers was killed when he stepped on a mine near his farm. He was with his teenage son, who ran for help, but by the time we got there the father was dead. How can we go back?”

Pa Tabaw, a father of seven, is no stranger to landmines.

”I lost my leg to a mine 15 years ago. I was walking on a village path when it happened. I don’t know which group planted the mine, but I’ve had enough of mines.”

Pa Tabaw is worried that children will trigger mines when out playing.

”How can we stop them playing. We warn them, but it’s not enough. There are mines everywhere.”

INNOCENT: A malnourished four-year old. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF BPHWT

Granma Dway Sein says landmines are just one of a number of concerns the people of Hler Kaw village have about returning to their homes and farms.

”We worry our sons will be taken as soldiers by the Burmese army. They take them at 15, 16, 17, 18 _ age doesn’t concern them. Before the fighting, women and children from our village were ordered by soldiers to clean, cook and carry water at the army camps and our men were forced to porter for the soldiers.”

Samuel Blythe, a regional political and defence analyst who also writes for Jane’s Defence Weekly, says the Burmese army’s harsh treatment of Karen villagers is reflected in their orders. ”The Burmese army’s strategy is to sweep the area like a dirty floor, removing villages they deem sympathetic to Karen fighters. It is also stated in orders passed down to company commanders from their superiors,” writes Blythe.

The position of Burma’s military regime on its perceived enemies is regularly spelled out in blunt statements in the state-controlled media. On April 10, 2006, The New Light of Myanmar published the following: ”Internal and external destructive elements should be opposed and crushed as common enemies in line with the People’s Desire as they are hindering the progress in endeavours of the Tatmadaw [army] and the people in building the Union into a discipline flourishing democratic nation.”

EMERGENCY TREATMENT: A Back Pack medic treats a gunshot victim.

In May 2006, the regime’s attitude to the Karen was made clear when the same paper said: ”With a view to preventing KNU [Karen National Union] atrocities and sabotage acts and ensuring the public safety, the Government has to clear up the surrounding areas and those areas where KNUs and hardcores could take refuge.”

Pa Tabaw says villagers, like those of Hler Kaw, are accused of giving assistance to the ethnic resistance groups and are seen as

dhenemies by the regime and its army.

”Soldiers shoot at us on sight. The army wants us to clear landmines and carry their supplies.”

Pa Tabaw accuses the Burmese army soldiers of killing and stealing villagers’ livestock.

”They came and took our chickens, pigs and goats. We don’t have any animals now, we can’t harvest our crops and we can’t get our fields ready for the wet season. We need to plant corn, rice, chilli and beans,” said Pa Tabaw.

AT REST: A woman recovering from malaria.

”If we can’t get our fields ready for planting, we won’t have a harvest. How will we replace what we usually grow_ for me it’s more than a 100 tins of rice. I won’t be able to support my seven kids. Who is going to feed all of us?”

Pa Tabaw listed reasons why villagers will not be able to stay along the river when the monsoon rains arrive.

”It will be impossible to stay. It will flood over all of this area. Water will be unclean. People will be wet and sick all the time. Mosquitoes will be bad and we will get malaria and respiratory infections.”

OUT OF SIGHT

The list is long of credible international and community-based organisations that have compiled an impressive array of documentation verifying the widespread, systematic violence and abuses committed by the Burmese army in eastern Burma. It includes Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Harvard Law School, the Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), the Karen Human Rights Group, Free Burma Rangers, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) and various Karen and Shan women’s groups. All have detailed the litany of crimes by the regime against the Burmese people.

The Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), in their 2010 report ”Protracted displacement and chronic poverty in eastern Burma”, estimated that ”at least 73,000 people were forced to leave their homes in eastern Burma in the last year, and over 446,000 people remain internally displaced.” The

dhreport says 3,500 villages have been destroyed or forcibly relocated since 1996.

The TBBC report also says that the main threat to human security in eastern Burma is related to militarisation and it explains how the Burmese army has, under its ”Four Cuts” policy, divided Karen state into zones of black, brown and white.

”The policy aims to turn the ‘black’ opposition-controlled areas into ‘brown’ contested areas and ultimately into ‘white’ areas controlled by Naypyidaw [Burma's capital].”

The TBBC says this results in civilians dhbecoming targets for military patrols, ”a violation of international humanitarian law which the state of Burma has formally ratified”.

Livingstone, a senior member of the Back Pack organisation who works and lives in a designated brown zone who goes by one name, lives with the constant fear of being caught by soldiers. ”Villagers are not allowed to leave the village without travel permits. When the army enters a village they shoot pigs and steal chickens to eat. They take food from homes and shops and force villagers to pay for it.”

To get to the Thai-Burma border for medical supplies not available in Burma, it takes Livingstone 10 days of hard travel. The wet season floods can add days or weeks to his trip.

”If the rivers are flooded, we have to wait or find another crossing place. We use bamboo rafts to cross. It’s not the big rivers like the Tenasserim that are treacherous, but the smaller ones that are fast, deep and dangerous.”

It is not just the arduous trip that is dangerous for Livingstone and his team.

In 10 years, gunfire or landmines have killed nine Back Pack medics and one traditional birth attendant. The most recent killing was in 2010, when Burmese soldiers shot a medic.

”If the Burmese army is in the area when we are treating patients, we have to leave. If we are found, we can be arrested, tortured and even killed _ not only us, but also the villagers for receiving treatment.”

Livingstone, 35, says villagers known to have received medical treatment will be

dharrested.

”If the soldiers find an empty packet of basic medicine, they arrest the person. But it is also a big problem for the whole village. These villagers are poor. They can’t afford to buy medicine. They can’t work because of the travel restrictions. They can’t sell their farm produce and in some cases they are not allowed to travel to work on their farms. It’s a cruel cycle.”

Livingstone listed the ailments his team treats _ malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis, accidents, falls, cuts, worms, dysentery, diarrhea, urinary tract infections, anaemia, malnourishment, gunshot wounds and landmines.

”Like any community, we also have emergencies _ work accidents, falls, bad cuts and broken bones. We treat people in their homes, in the jungle and in their fields. We work where we can, but we are seen as illegal by the Burmese army and hunted down.”

Between June and December 2010, Livingstone and his team saw around 700 patients out of the population of 8,000 residents in their area of operation.

”In that reporting period, five children died _ all were under one year old _ one from malaria complications, two in childbirth and the others from malnourishment. This should not be happening.”

Livingstone has been with the Back Pack team since 1998. It was the unnecessary death of a child that motivated him to become a medic.

”When I was 17, I saw a three-year-old child die because she could not get medical help. From that moment on, I wanted to be a medic. I wanted to help. I never wanted to feel helpless like that again.”

Livingstone is insistent that what NGOs and regional-based diplomats and politicians see and hear on the border is only a fraction of what the reality inside Burma is like.

”There as many as 500,000 displaced people. They are without proper health care and education. They are not allowed to farm their fields or stay in their traditional homes.”

To make his point, Livingstone opened an old battered computer and fed a USB memory stick into it. A series of photographs shimmer on the blue screen. A woman lies on the floor, her stomach slashed open by a gunshot. Livingstone explained that the woman, 35, was walking home to her village after visiting her father. She was carrying her five-month-old baby and walking with her five-year-old son. Burmese soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 369 opened fire, killing her oldest son and severely wounding her baby.

”She walked 40 minutes to find a Back Pack medic. The medic dressed her and her son’s wounds before getting them to safety. The Burmese army came and burned down the village and mined the area,” said Livingstone.

His files are filled with the names and photographs of villagers battered and killed by Burmese soldiers.

The dates, brigade numbers, officer names, and villages are all listed.

Mahn Mahn says these incidents are clear evidence of the on-going systematic violence against civilians in Burma.

”So far the UN Security Council have ignored our calls for a Commission of Inquiry into the crimes against humanity. The human rights abuses and the climate of impunity continue to be facts of everyday life for Burmese citizens.”

YOU WANT PROOF?

The UN special rapporteur on the situation on human rights in Myanmar [Burma], Tomas Ojea Quintana, is due to present his latest report to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) later this month.

In March 2010, Burma’s Ambassador to the UN, Wunna Maung Lwin, angrily rejected Mr Quintana’s initial report into the human rights situation in Burma, claiming it contained ”unfounded allegations” from ”unverifiable sources”.

Clues to what infuriated the regime can be found in Mr Quintana’s recommendations, for example, 121 calls for an investigation into the possibility of ”crimes against humanity and war crimes under the terms of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”.

Community groups working along the Thai-Burma border say this is not the first time a UN special rapporteur has lodged a report on Burma, and a trawl of UN websites confirms an enormous amount of documented resolutions, articles, submissions and reports condemning the Burmese regime.

Back in December 2002, then special rapporteur on Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, noted that the ruling State Peace and Development Council had issued a communique ”giving an initial positive reaction to his proposals regarding the investigation of allegations of human rights violations in ethnic areas, including allegations of rape in Shan State”.

The lone health worker visiting the displaced people on the Thai-Burma border laughed at Mr Pinheiro’s ”naive” optimism. ”The local UNHCR [the UN's agency for refugees] have said to me that ‘it is not safe for them to come and look at and assess the people’s situation’. If it’s not safe for the UN, how safe do they think it is for the villagers?” he asked.

The International Human Rights Clinic at the Harvard Law School released a report in 2009, ”Crimes in Burma”, that relies almost entirely on UN documents, resolutions, and special rapporteurs’ recommendations to state its case that there is a need for the UN Security Council to act. In the report’s preface, Justice Richard J Goldstone, the first prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals for both the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and Patricia M. Wald, former judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, call on the UN Security Council to ”urgently establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate and report on crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma”.

Human Rights Watch senior researcher on Burma David Mathieson says the documentation on crimes against humanity is there, but ithasn’t been translated into action.

”The veracity of the documentation is an absurd part of the debate. The facts cannot be disputed. The UN agencies that should be doing something about this all have their offices in Rangoon,” said Mr Mathieson. ”They don’t work or can’t access the conflict areas. They are also hamstrung by official obstruction by the Burmese military.”

Mr Mathieson says the UN agencies are playing politics on the issue by not using documentation of abuses and crimes compiled by international and regional NGOs and community groups. ”The reporting by the UN special rapporteur, Quintana, is excellent. The shortcomings are from the UN agencies which should be gathering information and acting on it. UN agencies are playing politics on the issue. It’s about preserving their access to government-controlled areas in Burma. That work should be expanded and supported _ but not at the expense of violations against people in eastern Burma,” he said.

Mr Mathieson added that the swelling numbers of villagers fleeing Burma for the safety of Thailand are testimony to why a Commission of Inquiry needs to be supported.

”Civilians in a lot of these areas are being used as human shields around Burmese army troops, to prevent attacks from their opponents. People are used to carry army supplies and ordered to walk through minefields. If you ask these refugees what they are afraid of, they might not tell you they are suffering from war crimes or crimes against humanity, but that’s exactly what it is.”