Turning Treasure Into Tears

8/6/2019 Turning Treasure Into Tears

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Editorial and

Research Team

Mah n Nay MyoAlisa Lovema nNain g Htoo

Elie Ha lpernMatth ew Smithhana Maungarol Ransley

Written By

Cliff McCoy

ayout and Design

Aung Moe Win

Southeast Asia Office U.S. Office

P.O. Box 123 1612 K St., N.W.Chiang Mai University Washington D.C.Chiang Mai 50202 Tel: 1-202-466-5188

Tel: 66-81-531-1256 Fax: [email protected] [email protected]

For more information on E RI, visit www.earthrights.org

F ree r eproduction r ight s with citat ion to the or igina l.

EarthRights International (ERI)combines the power of law and the power of people indefense of hu ma n right s an d the environmen t. We focus our work a t th e int ersection of

human rights and the environment, which we define as ear th r ights. We specialize in

fact-finding, legal actions against perpetrators of earth rights abuses, training for

grassr oots a nd commu nity leaders an d advocacy cam paigns. Through th ese stra tegies,

ERI seeks to end ear th rights abu ses, an d to promote an d protect eart h r ight s.

ERI would like to thank the Conservation, Food and Health Foundation, the OpenSociety Institute, the Sigrid Rausing Trust, the International Centre for HumanRights and the Threshold Foundation for their generous financial support of our

work , with out which th is repor t would not have been possible.


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Preface

This repor t addr esses the environmenta l and hu ma n r ights situation faced by vil-lagers an d m igran t workers in Shwegyin t ownsh ip of Nyaunglebin Distr ict, PeguDivision, Burma. Specifically, it examines the area around the Shwegyin andMawta ma Rivers where t he St at e Peace and Development Coun cil (SPDC) an d itsbusiness par tners a re engaged in bu ilding a dam , mining for gold, an d logging t heforests.

The Burm ese Arm y has h eavily milita rized th e ar ea in order t o guar an tee se-cur ity over t he la nd, people, and t hese lucra tive projects. As a r esult of this m ili-ta rizat ion, th e milita ry ha s dema nded m oney, labor, an d ma ter ials from local vil-lagers. The Arm y ha s also confiscated civilian land to use for Army camps andcomm ercial far ming. These pra ctices violat e cust oma ry an d convent iona l int ern a-tiona l law.

Much of th e resear ch for t his report wa s condu cted between 2003 and 2005. In

2006, dur ing the writing of th is report , the SP DC laun ched a ma jor n ew offensiveth roughout n ort hern Karen Sta te a nd east ern Pegu Division which h as complete-ly destroyed th e ceasefire agreement between the SP DC and th e Karen Nat ionalUn ion (KNU), which was originally initia ted by a gentlemen s a greemen t in J an -ua ry 2004.

Shwegyin township was targeted in the offensive and at least fifteen battal-ions have been opera ting with in the townsh ip. Columns of soldiers ha ve hu nt eddown villagers in t he m oun ta ins t o th e east of th e Shwegyin River, shooting t hemon sight an d destr oying th eir food supplies. This cont inues t o dat e. At pr esent , asa resu lt of th e SP DCs offensive, ther e a re almost 6,000 inter na lly displaced villag-

ers in Sh wegyin t ownsh ip.This report looks at hu ma n rights an d environment al abuses in an a rea con-

trolled by the SPDC, but within which the KNU is still able to operate. The cur-ren t offensive is directed a t a rea s just to the ea st, which t he SP DC does not con-tr ol. It can be expected t ha t, once the Bur mese Arm y has pushed t he KNU out ofthe area and established control over it, the human rights abuses and environ-mental exploitation occurring in the western portion of Shwegyin township willlikewise occur in t he n ewly occupied ar eas.

Mining companies have already been lobbying the Army to increase securityon the east side of the Shwegyin River so that they can expand their mining op-era tions. Logging companies will likewise be very int erested in logging th e forest sin the hills, which have for a long time been protected by the KNU and are thusrelatively unt apped.

If the SP DCs offensive is not halt ed, the a buses t ha t h ave a lready been com-mitt ed along th e Shwegyin a nd Ma wtam a Rivers will be expanded to th ese newlygained area s as well as t o th e oth er a reas of Karen Sta te a nd P egu Division, whereSPDC Arm y columns a re t rying to ta ke cont rol.

This report aims to focus at ten tion on t he SPDCs use of th e militar y to seizeter rit ory for business inter ests, pr ovide secur ity for business projects, a nd to ex-

ploit th e people and environment in a reas un der its cont rol.


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Al though t h i s r epo r t focuses on a spec ific a nd r e la t i ve ly sm a l l geo -

g r a p h i c a r e a , t h e s e a b u s e s p e r v a d e B u r m a , e s p e c i a l l y i n a r e a s w h e r e

t h e r e i s a c t iv e r e s i st a n c e t o t h e r e g i m e . I n c r e a s e d in t e r n a t io n a l p r e s s u r e

mu s t be p l aced on t he SPDC to d i s con t inu e t hese p r ac t i ces and t o i nvolve

th e loca l popu la t i on i n dec i sions t h a t a f fec t t h e i r l ives and t he en v i ron -

m e n t .


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We all suffer, but in different ways around theShwegyin River. Some people suffer from mining,some from damming, some from taxes and somefrom other oppression. It is very hard to live inthis difficult situation. What we once consid-ered our treasure has now become our sorrow. All the places andfields along the Shwegyin Riverused to be owned by the Karen people. Many ofthese places are old village sites. When the nextgeneration is asked where their parents lived,they wont be able to say anything because theland will have been destroyed and there wont beanything left to show them.

Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.1


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Contents

Ab br ev ia t ion s ..........................................................................................................9

Ma p s ............................................................. ........................................................... 11

Map of Burma ............................................................................................... 11

Map of Nyaunglebin Dist r ict ........................................................................12

Map of Shwegyin Townsh ip ..........................................................................13

I . E xe cu t ive Su m m a r y .................................................................................15

I I . R e com m en d a t ion s .....................................................................................17

I I I . De scr ip t ion of t h e Ar e a ............................................................................21

I V. Mil it a r iz a t ion of t h e Ar ea ........................................................................25

The Burmese Army Presence .......................................................................25

Tr avel Rest r ict ions ........................................................................................26

Forced Labor ..................................................................................................29Fees ................................................................................................................32

Land Confiscation .........................................................................................33

V. Gold Min in g ................................................................................................35

The Min ing Concessions ...............................................................................35

Collusion bet ween t he SPDC and t he Min ing Compa nies .......................... 37

Methods of Gold Min ing ...............................................................................38

Impacts of t he Gold Min ing ..........................................................................40

Land Confiscat ion and Loss of Livelihood .............................................40

Environmental Impacts ..........................................................................43

Influx of Migrant Workers and Eth n ic Tension .....................................44

VI . Logg in g ........................................................................................................47

VI I . Th e Kya u k Na ga D a m ...............................................................................51

The Dam P roject ...........................................................................................51

Corruption at the Dam Site ..........................................................................52

Impacts of the Dam Project ..........................................................................53

Land Confiscation ...................................................................................53

Environmental Impacts ..........................................................................54Stone Collection .......................................................................................55

Other Impacts ..........................................................................................55

VII I. Th e 2006 Milita r y Offen sive in Sh we gy in Tow n sh ip ..... ........ ........ ...57

I X. Con clu sion ...................................................................................................59

Ap p en d ic es .............................................................................................................61

Appendix A: Summa ry of Rights Violated in the Resea rch Area .............. 61

Appendix B: Fees Pa id t o the Bur mese Army and SP DC ...........................64

Appendix C: Bur mese Ar my Comma nders in Shwegyin Township ...........66Appendix D: Summ ary of Hydroelectr ic P rojects in the Resea rch Area ...67

E n d n ot e s .................................................................................................................69


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EarthRights International Turning Treasure into Tears

9

Abbreviations

Acronyms

SPDC Sta te Peace & Development Coun cil, milita r y jun ta cur rent ly ru l-ing Burm a

SLORC Sta te Law & Order Restoration Coun cil, former n ame of the SP DCunt il November 1997BSPP Burm a Socialist P rogram Pa rt y, milita ry regime prior to the de-

mocra cy demonst ra tions in 1988, r eplaced by SLORCKN U Ka ren Nationa l Union, ma in Ka ren opposition groupKN LA Karen Nat iona l Liberat ion Army, militar y wing of the KN UDKBA Democra tic Ka ren Buddhist Army, Ka ren group a llied with the

SPDC

Military Terms

LID Light In fantr y Division; ten batt a lionsSOC Strat egic Operat ions Comm and; ar ea headqua rt ers with 3-4 bat-

ta lions u nder itIB In fan tr y Batt a lion; usu a lly about 250-500 soldiersLIB Light In fantr y Batt alion; usu a lly about 250-500 soldiersCompany Milita ry un it of about 100 soldiers, though often understr engthColumn Combina tion of compa nies assembled for opera tions , usu a lly 100-

300 soldiersCamp Army base or outpost; from remote hill posts of ten soldiers to bat-

ta lion headquarters camps of severa l hundr ed soldiers

Administrative Terms

Division Civil adm inistr ative un it for t he seven predomin at ely Bur ma n a r-eas of Burm a; ma de up of severa l distr icts

Sta te Civil adm inistr ative un it for the seven predominat ely non-Bur ma narea s of Bur ma ; made up of severa l distr icts

Distr ict Civil adm inistr ative un it made up of severa l townshipsTownsh ip Civil adm inistr at ive un it made up of severa l village tr acts and a

centr a l townVillage Tr act Civil adm inist ra tive un it made up of severa l villages grouped

around one larger villagePDC SPDC organ ized administrat ive un its th at exist at the Stat e/Divi-

sion, Distr ict, t ownsh ip and villager t ra ct level.

Common Measurements

Kyat Bur mese cur rency; approximat ely 5.7 Kyat = $1 at cur rent officialrates. At the unofficial exchange rate Kyat was at nearly 1,400Kyat / $1 US at the end of 2005. All prices, un less otherwise noted,ar e unofficial.

kyat Unit of weight used for gold; 1 kyat = 16.3 grams (about 16 pehth a)


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10peh th a Un it of weight used for gold; 1peh tha = 1.021 grams (about 6 kyat

th a)kyat tha Unit of weight used for gold; 1 kyat tha = .163 grams (1.2 yway

lay)yway lay Unit of weight used for gold; 1yway lay = .136 grams

Other Termsloh ah pay Voluntary labor to make merit, but commonly used by SPDC for

most forms of forced labor.Kaw T hoo Lei Karen name for their homeland; also used to refer to the KNU/

KNLAIDP Internally Displaced Person; villagers who have become internal

refugees.


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Map of Burma


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Map of Nyaunglebin District


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Map of Shwe Gyin area


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I. Execut ive Sum mary

This repor t descr ibes how human r ights and environmenta l abuses continue t o bea serious problem in eastern Pegu division, Burma specifically, in Shwegyintownship of Nyaunglebin District.2 The h eavy milita r ization of the r egion, t he in-discriminate granting of mining and logging concessions, and the construction ofthe Kyauk Naga Dam have led to forced labor, land confiscation, extortion, forcedrelocation, and the destruction of the natural environment. The human conse-quences of these practices, many of which violate customary and conventional in-ter nat iona l law, have been social un rest , increa sed financial hardship, and greatpersona l suffering for the victims of huma n r ights abuses.

By cont ra st, the SPDC an d its business part ners h ave benefited great ly fromth is exploitat ion. The businessm en, thr ough t heir cont acts, have been able to rap-idly expand th eir operat ions to exploit t he townships gold an d t imber r esour ces.The SP DC, for its pa rt , is gett ing rich off the fees an d labor exacted from th e vil-

lagers. Its dam project will forever change the geography of thear ea, at great persona l cost t o th e villagers , but it will give th e re-gime m ore electr icity an d wat er t o irr igat e its agro-business pr oj-ects.

Kar en villagers in t he a rea previously panned for gold andsold it to supplemen t t heir incomes from th eir fields and plan -ta tions. They h ave a lso long been involved in sm all-scale log-ging of the forests. In 1997, the SPDC and businessmenbegan to indus tr ialize th e exploita tion of gold deposits a ndforests in the area. Businessmen from central Burma

eventually arrived and in collusion with the BurmeseArmy gained mining concessions and began to forcepeople off of th eir lan d. Villager s in th e ar ea con tin ueto lose th eir land, and with it t heir a bility to providefor themselves. The Army abuses local villagers,confiscates their land, and continues to extortth eir m oney. Comm odity pr ices cont inue to rise,compoun ding th e difficulties of da ily su rviva l.

Large numbers of migrant workers havemoved into the ar ea t o work th e mining conces-sions and log the forests. This has created acomplicated tension between the Karen andthese migrants. While the migrant workersare merely trying to earn enough money tofeed their families, they are doing so on theKaren s an cestra l lan d an d th rough the ex-ploitation of local resources. Most of the mi-grant workers are Burman, which increasesethn ic tensions in an ar ea where Bur ma ns often

represent the SPDC and the Army and are al-ready seen as sneaky and oppressive by the localKaren.


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16These form s of exploita tion increa sed since the ann oun cemen t of the const ru c-

tion of the Kyauk Naga Dam in 2000, which is expected to be completed in late2006. The SPDC has enabled the mining and logging companies to extract asmu ch a s th ey can before th e area upstr eam of th e dam is flooded.

This situation has intensified and increased h um an rights violations a gainstvillagers in the area. The militarization of the region, as elsewhere, has resulted

in forced labor, extort ion of money, goods, and building m ater ials, an d forced r elo-cat ion by th e Arm y.

In a ddition t o th ese direct hu ma n rights violations, th e mining an d dam con-str uction ha ve also resulted in gra ve environm enta l degra dat ion of the a rea. Themining process has resulted in toxic runoff that has damaged or destroyed fieldsand plantations downstream. The dam, once completed, will submerge fields,plan ta tions, villages, and forest s. In addition, th e dam will be used t o irr igat e ru b-ber plant at ions jointly owned by the SP DC an d private business int erests.

The Burm ese Arm y has a lso ma de moves to secur e the a rea in t he m oun ta insto th e east of the Sh wegyin River. This h as led to relocat ions an d t he forced dis-

placement of th ousa nds of Kar en villagers living in t he m oun ta ins. Once the Arm yha s secured t he a rea , the min ing an d logging compa nies will sur ely follow.

This report is based on field surveys and in-depth interviews conducted byEarthRights International (ERI) in the district since 2001. Most of the informa-tion pr esent ed here was gat her ed between 2004 an d 2005 from Bur mese of differ-ent eth nic backgrounds. Many of th e individua ls inter viewed work ed for t he dif-ferent extractive industries that operate in the district either as miners, daylaborer s, loggers, or in oth er seconda ry occupa tions relat ed t o the exploita tion ofnon-timber forest products, such as rattan and bamboo. Additional interviewswere condu cted with inter na lly displaced persons (IDPs ) hiding in rem ote a rea s ofth e distr ict as well as form er convict port ers a nd soldiers who had defected fromth e Burmese Arm y.3


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II. Recommenda t ions

In the absence of significan t politica l and inst itu tiona l reform s in Bur ma , an end t oth e pr oblems described in th is r epor t is u n likely. However, the following r ecommen-dat ions outline the ma in a rea s which need to be addressed and specify what domes-tic and international mechanisms can be used to induce constructive changes.Ea r th Rights Int ern ationa l (ERI ) ca lls on the following actors:

To the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC):

General Human Rights Abuses To ma ke cha nges t o the 1974 Const itut ion so th at civilian s have more r ight s over

the land they occupy, including rights to obtain legal land title. The changesshould a lso include provisions t o ena ble civilians to be included in decisions abouthow their land is used.

To creat e clea r m echa nisms t hat stat e the conditions wherein landmay be confiscated by the State. The mechanisms should alsocontain avenues of complaint for civilians against land seizureand provide clear punishments for State officials who violatethese mecha nisms.

To provide sufficient food, sala r ies, and other m ateria l sup-plies t o its soldiers and officers so th at they are self-suffi-cient in the field and do not need t o live off th e populat ion.Complaint and punishment mechanisms should be putinto place to deter soldiers from the extort ion or lootin g

of villagers . To institute safe complaint mechanisms for civilians

to repor t hu ma n r ights a buses by the milita ry. Mil-ita ry personnel found gu ilty of th ese abuses shouldbe pun ished.

To fulfill its obligations under In ter nat iona l La-bor Organization Convention No. 29 (1930),which it ratified in 1955. Additionally, theSPDC should ratify International Labor Or-ganization Convention No. 105 (1957) andimplement the terms of this agreement im-med iat ely. The SP DC should act ively enforceOrder No. 1/99 (14 May 1999) and the Or-der Supplementing Order No. 1/99 (27 Oc-tober 2000), which outlawed the use offorced labor in all circumstances and pro-scribed punishment for its use. Protectionshould be extended to civilians who reportforced labor abuses.

To sign and ratify the following internationalhuman rights documents, including: the Inter-national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights


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18(ICCPR) and its Optional Protocols; the International Convention on the Elimi-na tion of All Form s of Racial Discrim ination (ICESCR); the Convention AgainstTor tu re a nd Other Cr uel, In hum an, or Degrad ing Treatment (CAT); the GenevaConvention (the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War and its Addi-tiona l Pr otocol); an d the Rome Sta tut e of the Int ern ationa l Crimina l Cour t.

General Environmental Abuses To replace outdat ed laws and replace ineffective environmenta l provisions t o br ing

them into accordance with its 1994 Environmenta l Policy and t he UN-suppor tednationa l action plan for t he environm ent known a s Myanm ar Agenda 21.

To strengthen the National Commission for Environmental Affairs (NCEA) byempowering it to enforce existing laws and other regulations regarding environ-mental issues. The NCEA should be provided with sufficient human and finan-cial resou rces to accomplish th is ta sk.

To reform t he system for administ erin g and en forcing environmenta l laws, whichis inefficient and narrowly defined by sector. In most cases, the laws are con-cerned with licensing requirements (by ministry) and refer to environmentalprotection in vague terms where t hey are mentioned at a ll.

To revise a nd en force pena lties for violatin g environm enta l laws. F ines a nd otherdeter rents should be adjust ed t o accoun t for t he differences in compa ra tive wealthof individuals, Burmese companies, and foreign companies. This will help pre-vent situa tions where it m ight be more cost -effective to da ma ge the envir onmentinstead of preventing the ha rm in t he first place.

To offer financial and other incentives to state-owned enterprises and privatesector actors to ma na ge the count r ys na tu ra l resour ces in a sust a inable way.

Any new da m pr ojects should follow the recommendat ions of the World Commis-sion on Dams .

Mining To ban and ta ke immediate legal action a gainst individua ls and companies using

ecologically damaging techniques, such as: 1) hydraulic mining, a practice thathas been out lawed th roughout th e world; 2) deep t renchin g, which involves cut-ting deep tr enches across the farmla nd; as well as 3) the indiscr iminat e use ofmercury, cyanide, sulphuric acid, and other chemicals to leach precious metalsand minera ls from extr acted ore.

To enforce Section 12(a) of SLORC Law No. 8/94 which contains language re-quir ing th at: a) all applicat ions to the Min istry of Mines conduct a n environmen-ta l impact a ssessment (EI A) pr ior t o receiving official approva l to extra ct miner-als, gems, a nd pr ecious meta ls; an d b) to investigat e whether the environment,flora and fauna, highways, religious property, and/or items of cultural heritagewould be negatively a ffected by min ing activities. Laws and r egulat ions in boththese ar eas should be str engthened.

To create an independent agency to conduct future social impact assessmentsand environmental impact assessments in order to avoid conflicts of int erest .

To repeal the section of the SLORC Law No. 8/94,which states that no mining

compa ny is liable t o prosecution or fines.


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19 To promulgate laws that permit citizens whose health and/or livelihoods are

harmed by mining activities, including downstream pollution, to file lawsuitsand r eceive adequat e compensat ion for t heir injur ies.

To Governments: Governments should encourage the SPDC to unilaterally declare a cease-fire

again st a ll groups and begin demilitar izing areas inh abited by non-Bur ma n eth-nic nationalities.

Governments should exert pressure on the SPDC to step down and install ademocratic government that also includes ethnic nationality representation.

Governments should continue to pressure the SPDC to engage in meaningfulan d substa ntive discussions with the Nationa l League for Democra cy and r epre-sentat ives of the coun t rys ma ny non-Burm an eth n ic na tiona lities.

Government s should ma inta in existing economic sanctions a nd cont inue t o with-hold international aid to the regime until significant improvements in the hu-man rights situation are independently verified by the UN Special Rapporteuron the huma n r ights situat ion in Myanm ar a nd other mon itoring groups.

Govern ments should demand t hat Daw Aun g San Suu Kyi be released from pro-tective custody so that she m ay resume her n orm a l activities as head of the po-litical opposition.

International Organizations and NGOs: The In ter nat iona l Labor Organ ization (ILO) should str engthen existing r esolu-

tions on Burm a t o requ ire t he ILOs const ituent s (governm ents, employees, andlabor) to ta ke concrete actions t o elimin at e tr ade with and a ssistan ce to the r e-

gime t ha t is cont r ibut ing t o the practice of forced labor. UN agencies and other international environmental organizations should ab-

sta in from pr oviding fundin g or other t echn ica l forms of assista nce unt il ser ioussteps ar e ta ken by the SPDC t owards m eeting its existing internat iona l tr eatyobligat ions regar ding t he environment.

The Asia-Pacific Center for E nvironmenta l Law and t he United Nat ions E conom-ic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pa cific (ESCAP) should pressure theSPDC to honor the t erm s of Myanm ar Agenda 21, which they helped au thor.

NGOs should continue to develop the capacity of indigenous groups to documenthuman rights and environmental abuses and advocate for change in relevant

regiona l and inter nat iona l forum s.

To Private Sector Actors: P r ivat e sector actors should r efra in from investing in or providing t echn ical sup-

port for extractive industries in Burma until the companies adopt internation-ally recognized best-practices to protect laborers and to safeguard the environ-ment .

Major importers and distributors of gold should eliminate their tacit support ofthe SDPC by refusing to import these products from Burma, refrain from pur-chasing Burmese gold through third countries, or through smuggled or illegal

shipments.


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20To Opposition Groups: Provide for measur es in any futur e const itut ion which will protect the environ-

ment a nd creat e mecha nisms for t he enforcement of those measur es. Put in place a mora tor ium on a ll new la rge-sca le development projects, i.e. dam s,

mining, logging operations, until a new constitution and political structure is inplace.

Develop a comprehensive resour ce development str at egy based on the pr inciple ofecological sustainability.

Develop a str at egy to deal with land confiscation. Any new da m pr ojects should follow the recommendat ions of the World Commis-

sion on Dams .


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III. Descr iption of the Area

Geographical LocationShwegyin township lies to the east of the Sittaung River and is centered on thetown of Shwegyin. P lains cr isscrossed by str eam s extend from the Sitt aun g Rivereast un til the Shwegyin River where t he t err a in becomes more hilly, building intoforested mountains that extend away into Papun District to the east. Shwegyintown is the townsh ip center for t he local SPDC Township Peace and DevelopmentCouncil. It h as become someth ing of a business center in the past five yea rs, a nd isbecoming more developed. People in the a rea, h owever, say tha t it st ill lacks goodeducational and health facilities.4 People travel to and from Shwegyin by bullockca r t a nd sma ll boats. Sma ll boats a re able to travel the Shwegyin River a s fa r n or thas Ler Wah village.

Shwegyin town was a very poor town before, but in the pastfive years the town has

grown and developed. The town has become a business center. Burman migrant mine worker in Shwegyin township5

Agricultural FeaturesMost of the fer tile fa rm land is in the plain s a long the Sittau ngRiver and along the banks of the Shwegyin and MawtamaRivers. Villagers in the plains traditionally grow rice andmaintain plantations of shaut, mangosteen, durian,betelnut, and rubber. After years of relocations due toanti-insurgency campaigns, many villagers have givenup on their rice fields and have concentrated on theirfruit plantations. The fruit is sold in town and the

money used t o buy r ice a nd other foodstu ffs.Most of the villagers income comes from the

sa le ofshaut. This year -round fruit is like a lime,although larger. There are over 1,000 acres ofshautplantations in the township with nearly250 plantations located along the Shwegyinan d Mawtam a Rivers (Appendix B).6Shaut is

extr emely popular in Bur ma . In 2005, shautsold for 15 Kyat per fruit in Shwegyin, butcould earn as m uch as 50 Kyat per fru it inRangoon. The tr ees take u p to ten years be-fore t hey can produce fru it, although graft-ing can reduce this to as little as three tofour years. A shaut tree can be productivefor 20 t o 30 year s.7


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22Military SignificanceShwegyin township, and Nyaunglebin District as a whole, has been the scene offighting between the Karen National Union (KNU) and successive Burmese re-gimes since the Kar en a rmed str uggle began in 1949. Since then, the KN U h as beenslowly forced to retreat up into the eastern hills of Burma and the Burmese Armygained a t least nomin al cont rol over the plains of the d istr ict in t he ea rly 1970s.

Many villagers in the a rea ta lk about the Four Cuts, the Burmese Armys coun ter -insurgency strategy to destroy resistance groups by cutting them off from food,funds, intelligence, and recruits. For many villagers in Nyaunglebin District, thisrefers to a specific time beginn ing in 1975 when t he str at egy was first introduced tothe area and fighting a nd displacement in the distr ict were especially severe.

After the rainy season in 1975, the Burmese soldiers announced to all the villages in the

valley area that they had to move deeper [inside Burma to the west] in the Shwegyin

area. Some villagers went up into the hills after this and some went deeper inside and

they didnt see each other again. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.9

Fr om th e m id-1970s t hr ough th e 1990s t he Bu rm ese Arm y gradu allyst ren gthened its cont rol over t he p lains while periodica lly conducting offensivesagainst KNU strongholds in the mountains to the east. During this time, thenumber of battalions stationed in the area increased with a corresponding in-crea se in th e nu mber of cam ps. In an at tem pt t o cut th e plains off from th e KNUin t he m oun ta ins, th e Arm y condu cted s evera l ma ss forced relocat ions of villageson t he pla ins t o sites closer t o Arm y cam ps. The relocat ion sit es made it eas ier forth e Arm y to cont rol th e movement of the population a s well as ea sier to deman d

forced labor, m oney, food, and ma ter ials.

In 1974-1975, there was heavyfighting between the Burmese soldiers and the Karen

soldiers in this area. There were many military offenses and I had to appear neutral and

could not look like I was taking sides. Sometimes we had to go help the Burmese soldiers

when they asked and sometimes we had to go help the Karen soldiers if they asked.


Despite th e Arm ys effort s, th e KNU is cur ren tly still able to go down in to th e

plains for short periods of time to gather information, funds, recruits, and food.Their ability to do th is was u nderlined when th ey overr an th e batt alion h eadqua r-ter s camp of LIB 589 at Duyineseik village in Sh wegyin t ownsh ip on Ma rch 2004,ta king a lar ge amoun t of weapons an d ra dios before blowing up th e cam p.11

Forced RelocationA cent ra l component of the Bu rmese Ar mys st ra tegy is the relocation of villagersto central villages or towns near Army camps. In Shwegyin township, this hap-pened in t he 1970s a nd 80s. Villagers were u sua lly given very lit tle warn ing,sometimes none at a ll. On t he appointed day for th e r elocat ion th e villagers were

expected to move with everyt h ing t hey cou ld car ry. The villages were loot ed a ndth en dest royed by the soldiers a fterwa rd. Noth ing was provided in the r elocat ion


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23sites so the villagers had to find their own food and materials for building newhouses. The land a roun d th e sites was alr eady owned so there was no land a roundthe r elocation sit e for t he villagers t o work .

Forced relocat ion violates th e Un ited Na tions Guidin g Principles on In ternalDisplacement, which provide, inter alia, protection against arbitrary displace-men t, a nd a par ticular obligation, on th e pa rt of the displacing forces, to protect

against the displacement of indigenous peoples, minorities, peasants, pastoral-ists, and other groups with a special dependency on a nd a tt achment to the lan d.12While the Guiding Principles are aspirational norms rather than binding law,th ey are h ighly regarded a s best pr actices by int erna tiona l agencies, int erna tiona lfinancial institutions, and non-governmental organizations.

Although t he r elocat ed villagers a re sometimes a llowed to ret ur n t o th eir fieldsan d plant at ions, th ey are r elocat ed quite far from th eir lan d, making it difficult t oretu rn on a daily basis to work th e land. The Arm y places a rbitra ry tr avel restric-tions on the villagers, limiting where and when they can travel, and sometimesrestr icting tr avel to th e fields altogeth er. As a resu lt, villagers ar e often forced to

find work a s day laborers in t he t owns or villages nea r t heir r elocat ion site, or inthe fields around them. Most villagers are unaccustomed to living like this andfind it very difficult to make a living. The villages that were relocated along theShwegyin River in t he 1970s r ema in u npopulat ed t o this da y. Most of the villag-ers from t ha t a rea ar e living nea r Sh wegyin t own in r elocat ion sites t ha t over t imehave become villages. These villagers are permitted to return to their fields andplant at ions only if they ha ve Arm y issued pa sses, although n ot to the easter n sideof the Shwegyin River.13 These limits on resettlement clearly violate GuidingPrinciples guidelines concern ing safe retu rn , resettlement , an d r eint egra tion.

One day we had afield and a house and the next day we had to leave and thefield

was ruined. We dont have a normal situation around the Shwegyin River because a lot of

people still face these kinds of problems. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.14

Pr esently in Shwegyin townsh ip ther e ar e no Karen villages along th e Shwe-gyin River or Mawta ma River. The villages on t he west ern ban k of th e Shwegyinriver were r elocat ed to Shwegyin or along t he r oad link ing Shwegyin with KyaukKyi in the 1970s and 80s.15 These villagers a re a llowed to retur n to their lan d,sta y in t heir field hu ts for limit ed periods of time, and work th eir fields an d plan -

ta tions, but th ey are not allowed to reestablish an d r esettle their villages.Villagers on th e easter n ba nk of the Shwegyin an d a long th e Mawta ma Rivers

fled th eir original villages ma ny years a go an d now live in hiding in t he m oun ta insnea rby. They ha ve set u p tem pora ry hiding sites an d live in da ily fear of th e Bur -mese Arm y.16

There were a lot of villages in this area before, but during the Four Cuts Operation most

of the villages were destroyed. When I was young, we caughtfish from the Shwegyin River

to makefishpaste. We would go up into the hills and hunt wild animals in the forest. We

also tended a ricefield. During the Four Cuts we were relocated to the town and we werenot allowed to do that kind of work, but my family was still able to send me to school.



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24In th e after ma th of another offensive in 1997, logging an d m ining compan ies

moved into th ese unpopulated zones a long t he Sh wegyin an d Ma wtam a Rivers.18Tempora ry villages sprout ed up a round th e mining sites at Ka Nee, Ywa Myo, PoLoh, Meh Zau ng an d Su Mu H ta , but t hey ar e now mostly occupied by Burm anmine worker s from across th e Sitta un g River.


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25

IV. Milita r iza t ion of the Area

The Burmese Army PresenceThe Bur mese Army ma inta ins a h eavy presence in Shwegyin t ownsh ip, with head-qua r ter s for one of the Str at egic Operat ions Comm ands of the South ern Regiona lCommand located near Shwegyin town. Strategic Operations Commands (SOC)are headqua r ter un its r esponsible for the coordin ation of thr ee or more bat ta lions.In the area around Shwegyin town there are battalion base camps for four battal-ions; IB 57, LIB 349, LIB 350 and LIB 589. All of these bat ta lions a re cont rolled bythe SOC in Shwegyin. Occasiona lly, other batt a lions a re brought into the a rea toconduct specific operations.

One of the responsibilities of these units is to secure the area against theKNLA. To do th is, th e Arm y has set up sm aller camps t hr oughout th e ar ea a ndcondu cts pa tr ols in t he a reas ar oun d th e cam ps. Despite t ha t, most of th e respon-sibility of th ese un its is lar gely economic related, a s t hey a re responsible for guar -

anteeing the security of the Kyauk Naga Dam, the mining operations, and thelogging opera tions.

The Army has made it very difficult for villagers to passthr ough th e area where the dam is being built and t here ar e re-port s th at th ey plan to place lan dmines ar oun d the site.19 Thereare Burmese Army camps located at Meh Zone, Ywa Mone,Kyauk Na ga, Aw Meh Zaw, Ma Inn Ga , Su Mu Ht a, Boh Lohand Bway Po. The battalions rotate their companies andplatoons through the security camps in the hills aroundShwegyin every two to thr ee mont hs.

The reason the soldiers are here is to secure the dam site

area and the mining project areas. They rotate their soldiers

every two to three months. We have to rebuild our

relationships with the soldiers after every rotation.

Sometimes it can be very hard and sometimes it can

be alright. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township20

Every two months every battalion leaves and is

exchanged for another one. When the new battalionarrives they reorganize the camp and follow a new

system. The camp system changes and also the

checkpoint system and communications system

changes. At that time they go around and order a

lot of people to go and work for them.


Shwegyin t ownsh ip also used t o be an a rea

of operations for the Dam Byan Byaut Kya, orGuerrilla Retaliation Units. These small unitsoperat ed in th e ar ea from late 1998 unt il recent ly.


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27their field hu t. Villagers cau ght without pa sses ar e often ar rested by passing Bur-mese Army pat rols a nd accused of support ing the KNU. This h as resulted in int er-rogat ion an d sum ma ry execut ion.

People without passes are often forced to porter for the Army unit that cap-tu red t hem , which involves car rying hea vy loads for un specified am oun ts of timewithout compensation. For these reasons, most people are sure to obtain passes

before tr aveling to their fields.Another type of pass is the town pass, which people can obtain from the

Township PDC in Shwegyin. This pass costs 500 Kyat and allows the holder totr avel between towns; an d mu ch fart her t ha n t he pass from t he bat ta lion. Unliketh e oth er passes, these passes ar e not u sed to work in t he fields.26

We have a limited number of days to look after the gardens. When the section leaders

provide passes, they only give passes for three days. If we stay more than three days,

there will be punishment for the people who do not follow orders. ... The military some-

times suspects people who go to the plantations. We have heard about many cases of

people being beaten and killed when they did not tell the truth about people who have

gardens. We dont know why they act like this. Conditions have gotten worse and worse

and farmers are working less and less. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.27

Per iodically, th e Army en tirely forbids t he villagers from t ra veling to th eir oldvillage sites, which occur s when th ey ar e condu cting opera tions in th e a rea orha ve inform at ion t ha t t he KNU m ay be near by. Dur ing these periods, no passesar e issued and villagers caught in th eir fields are often shot on sight .

As mentioned, the travel restrictions make it difficult for villagers t o work in

their fields an d ten d th eir planta tions. The inability to spend enough t ime in th efields a nd plan ta tions increases t he r isk of crop failure a nd increases t he r isk th atcrops will be eat en by a nima ls or rot before ha rvest, a ll of which issues a consider-able blow to livelihood and even su bsisten ce.

The Bur mese Arm y ha s a lso setup checkpoints a long th e roads a nd r ivers inth e area. These checkpoints a re often m an ned by a few soldiers in a sm all bunkeror bamboo hut with a swing gate attached. Villagers and mine workers are re-quired to show their pass at each of these checkpoints. Even with the pass, a 50Kyat fee must be paid at each checkpoint.

When the villagers have to pass through a checkpoint they have pay 50 Kyat per

person. There are seven checkpoints and everyone must pay 50 Kyat when they pass

through them. When villagers take shaut to town they have to pay 500 Kyat at each

checkpoint. There are also other fees for logs, dogfruit, cane, and boats. For me it costs

about 5,000 Kyat to go and come back from Shwegyin town each time. You have to have

the exact change for the checkpoints or they will take all your money and not give you

any change. Everyone who passes through a checkpoint has to show a pass and give

money. When there is a problem with one person, all of the people passing through have

to wait in the sun and cant go. Karen villager in Shwegyin township.28


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28The township chairman said there was peace in the town area, but there really wasnt

because outside the town area it wasnt like that. There were too many problems at the

Army and TPDC checkpoints. They demanded fees at the checkpoint for passing and more

fees for bullock cartloads and other loads. Karen people didnt travel much because they

were afraid to pass through the checkpoints. We usually only use a pass as an ID card and

the soldiers ask us questions about the passes and information about the Karen rebels.

Sometimes the Karen rebels came to the shaut plantations, but we wouldnt tell them [theBurmese soldiers] about it because if we did they would cause us a lot of problems.


Villagers complain of th e ma ny checkpoints an d th e am oun t of money they arear bitr ar ily required t o pay while tr aveling to and from t heir fields or plantations.Villagers and mine workers must go through up to eight different checkpointsbefore a rr iving at th eir destinat ion. There a re checkpoints a t Pa ya Gyi, Kan BeeAye, Ka H tee Wa, Kyauk Na ga, TNa y Pa , Ma In n Ga , Meh Zone a nd Win Koke.30

The checkpoint s ar oun d th e min ing sites have effectively enclosed the people, forc-ing the mine workers and their families to pay fees to travel in and out. Minework ers a re a lso requ ired to pay fees for a nyth ing they bring into the min ing sites,su ch as sa cks of r ice or cooking oil.

As the companies develop the mining areas they use the soldiers more and more to

restrict the people from entering the mining sites. Most of the companies employ workers

from Nyaunglebin, Pegu, and Mandauk. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.31

The military took the land and sold some of it to the mining businesses. Sometimes they

did joint ventures with the mining companies. In these cases they used a lot of security in

the area and closed the area off. They created little self contained towns in these areas.

They collected taxes from the families of the mine workers living inside the closed off

area. They also taxed the mine workers when they brought goods like rice sacks and oil

back into the closed off area. Burman migrant mine worker in Shwegyin township.32

Fees ar e also required on a ny goods th at ar e brought th rough th e oth er check-points as well. Villagers t ak ing shautdown t o Shwegyin to sell in th e ma rket mu stpay 500 Kyat per load to each checkpoint on th e way. Ther e a re also fees for logs,

dogfruit , can e, rice whisky, cha rcoal, bamboo, firewood, and sacks of r ice.33 Boatsmu st pa y 500 Kyat at each checkpoint a long th e river.34 The money collected ateach checkpoint goes to the camp responsible for the checkpoint. The money col-lected is used for t he camp a nd t he bat ta lion h eadqua rt ers of th e unit sta tioned inthe cam p at th e time.

These restrictions violate a number of widely recognized international normsprohibiting forced relocat ion an d gua ra nt eeing t he right to livelihood. The In terna -tional Covena nt on E conomic, Social, and Cultur al Rights (ICESCR), for in stan ce,affirms the right... to an adequate standard of living... including adequate food,cloth ing, housing, an d t o th e cont inuous impr ovemen t of living conditions .35 Forcedrelocation and interference with the resettlement process seriously impairs theenjoyment of th ese hum an rights.


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30 In my village there is loh ah pay every month. One camp is in my village and when they

need loh ah pay they order the village head to provide workers for them. Every year after

the rainy season they order all the village tracts to come andfix their camp.

Burman migrant mine worker in Shwegyin township.40

The laborers ar e usua lly demanded from t he village headm an who sends th e

requ ired nu mber of villagers on a rota ting schedu le. Villagers in th e area say tha tth ey have to go th ree to five times every month. At the camps, the villagers areforced to cut bam boo, build fences ar oun d t he cam p, fix roofs, clear t he bru sh fromaround the camp, and do anything else that is ordered by the soldiers. Villagerssay th at most of the work is done imm ediat ely before a nd a fter th e ra iny season.All of the work must be completed by deadlines specified by the Army camp, re-gardless of any pr oblems.41

They order people to cut bamboo, build fences,fix roofs and whatever else they want.


We also have to do loh ah pay. They order us to work like this three or four times a

month. Each tract has to go and work for them. We especially have to work before and

after the rainy season. They order us tofix things at the Army camp and do daily mainte-

nance on things.


For the two camps at Bow Lo and Ma Inn Ga they usually ordered us to repair the

camp buildings, dig trenches, and collect visitor fees. Loh ah pay happened about four or

five times a month. We usually had to do loh ah pay before and after the rainy season.

We have to take our own bamboo, nails, shingles, posts, logs, and food.


Last March [2005] 60 of our villagers went to rebuild Baw Lo camp. There were also

other villages that had to come andfix the camp. When we went there we had to take

our own tools, knives, thatch, bamboo, and posts forfixing the camp. Each family had to

take responsibility for a four tofive foot section of the fence. Some people work inside the

camp buildings, some clear the camp area outside and some replace the old posts with

new posts. We bring our own food to eat for lunch. Then we work at building again and

then we go back to our own village.


Villagers a re a lso ordered t o ma inta in th e roads in t he a rea an d to clear th ebrush from alongside the r oads. Road m aint enan ce mea ns filling in h oles in th eroad with stones and shoring up road embankments that collapsed in the rainyseason. Brush is cut from alongside both sides of the road to provide the Armywith clear fields offire in case of am bush a long th e roads an d to ma ke it difficult

for t he r esista nce to sneak out ont o th e roads an d lay lan dmines.46 The roads inth e ar ea a re pr edomina tely used by th e Arm y to move troops an d supplies.


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31Villagers must bring their own tools and food when they go for forced labor.

When th e Arm y decides infra str uctur e such a s barr acks and fences mu st be built,the villagers must bring along their own building materials such as bamboo,th at ch shingles, na ils, wood posts, an d logs.47 At pr esen t , very litt le bamboo is leftin t he a rea so villagers mu st bu y each pole th ey bring for 200 Kyat.48

Both Karen villagers an d Burm an mine worker s ar e ordered by the Arm y to

work. Children as young as 16 years old are sometimes required to work whentheir parents a re busy in the fields or a t t he m ine sites. If th e Arm y or t he Town-ship P DC Cha irman does not a pprove of the quality of work completed, or if thework was n ot completed with in th e specified time fram e, villagers a re often pun -ished or forced to do the work a gain. 49

They want the work done by a certain time, even if there are complications with the

assigned jobs that make them difficult. Every month we have to work for them and give

them a fee at the right time. If we do this, then we dont have any problems.


Last March the Shwegyin township PDC chairman ordered all the villages in the area to

clear the brush along the road to over 20 feet from the road. Then they ordered us tofix

the roads and the bridges. Each village was in charge of an area and they had tofinish

the area by the same day. Each village had to take responsibility for their area. Our village

had 80 villagers who had to work on the road and we divided the work. Women had to

cut down the brush and men had tofix the bridge and the road. There were also some

children around 16 years old who were working because their parents had gone to the

mining area. We allowed them to only carry branches from the bushes and other small

things. Whenever the township chairman orders us to do something and we dont do it

perfectly we have to do it again.


When t hey ar e work ing forced labor, villagers a re u na ble to work th eir fieldsan d plant at ions or to work as da y laborers in town, which h as a significan t impa cton da ily survival, often prevent ing them from ear ning enough m oney to buy ricean d other daily needs. Villagers who do not wa nt to report for forced labor can tr yto find a nother villager t o go in th eir place, but oth erwise they ar e requir ed to pay

1,000 Kyat per day to the Army camp.52 In addition to violating internationalnorm s a nd laws expressly forbidding t he u se of forced labor, t hese p ra ctices a lsointer fere with victims right to livelihood as gua ra nt eed by the ICE SCR.53

Some villagers go [ to forced labor] themselves and others pay money to the soldiers so

they dont have to go. It costs 1,000 Kyat to pay instead of going.


When they demand loh ah pay people dont want to go work, so they try to pay money.

So the soldiers demand loh ah pay knowing that they will get money from the villagers. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.55


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33th e sale of th e shautfrom h is plan ta tion.61 Another villager r eport ed th at he pa id10,000 Kyat each m ont h to th e Arm y, or 50% of his month ly income.62

I have 5 acres of shaut plantation. Most of my income comes from growing the shaut,

but I have to give one third of my income to the military. Food and other things are very

expensive also. We cannot save any money. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.63

When the three battalions arrived we had to pay a monthlyfield tax, money for loh ah

pay, checkpoint fees and visitor fees. Every month the villagers have to give 2,000 Kyat

for afield tax. There are two camps around our village area so we have to pay each

camp 2,000 Kyat per month. We lose income every month by givingfield taxes and fees.

If we dont want to go for loh ah pay we have to pay 1,000 Kyat per day. Every month I

have to pay over 10,000 Kyat. That amount of money isfifty percent of my income.


Land ConfiscationFor year s th e Army ha s confiscated land from the villagers of Shwegyin townsh ip,and that land has been used to construct camps or it has been converted to com-mercial agricultural projects. Compensation is very rarely paid to villagers for theland taken by the Army, and land is taken arbitrarily and at will. Villagers areoften told th at confiscation is permissible in Bur ma because no one owns the land .

Villagers commonly find th emselves work ing on th e Armys comm ercial a gri-cultural projects, which exist on land they formerly owned. That is, after theirland is confiscat ed, villagers a re often forced to work on th eir own land, with nocompensation for their work or for the land that was previously confiscated at

th eir expense. Most villagers ar e too afra id of the soldiers a nd th e Arm y to com-plain, and those villagers brave enough to lodge a complaint to the Army or theTownsh ip PDC h ave r eceived no help or compen sat ion.

These inst ances of lan d confiscat ion int erfere with or directly violate a nu mberof internationally recognized rights, including the ICESCRs right to livelihood,an d th e Inter na tiona l Covena nt on H um an Rights, which pr ovides, inter alia, thatlocal communities and individuals shall have full and complete sovereignty overall their nat ur al wealth a nd resources.65

We dont have land licenses and the township chairman said the land was not legal landand no one owns it so we could use it. So when the Army came they set up their battalion

camps wherever they wanted and took the land. When the battalions came to Shwegyin

area they took the land and they built camps and started farming and doing projects [to

make money]. There are a lot of rubber and mangosteen plantation projects and military

building projects around the Shwegyin area. We havent had any conversations with them

because we are afraid they would punish us.



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34All around the area there are a lot of security checkpoints and areas closed off to the

public. The military government in the Shwegyin area took all the free land in the area

and the land that people owned. They started plantation projects for their battalions.


The SPDC has used the confiscated land for large-scale commercial agricul-

tu ra l projects to grow man gosteen , coffee, and ru bber. Most of these pla nt at ionsare controlled by the local battalions, although there are some wealthy businesspar tn ers involved in t he opera tions a s well.68 Dur ing a visit t o Shwegyin t ownsh ipon 12 March 2005, Maj. Gen. Ko Ko gave a speech to the assembled township of-ficials about the need to increase the acreage under rubber plantation in PeguDivision from 50,000 to 100,000 acres in th ree years sta rt ing from t he 2005-2006fiscal year. He said that 30,000 of those acres were planned for Shwegyin town-ship.69

A rubber processing plant is also slated to be built in Shwegyin. Water fromthe Kyauk Naga Dam reservoir is the most likely source to irrigate the planta-tions. The Olympic Compa ny Ltd ., a firm recently cont ra cted by th e SPDC t o com-plete th e Kyau k Na ga Dam, cur rent ly leases land from t he SPDC elsewhere in th ecoun tr y to grow rubber a nd could be a likely can didat e to do so her e.70

Some of the confiscat ed land h as been converted int o fish ponds by the Arm y,used to raise fish for sale to local villagers. Villagers who want to fish in theseponds t hemselves mu st pa y a fee to the Army.71 Generally, villagers ar e not onlydeprived of th eir land an d cha rged fees to work th eir land, but th ey quite expect-edly never see a ny direct or indirect pr ofits from t he pr ojects on th eir land.

The Army and the business leaders have also taken the land from the villagers to use forlarge agricultural projects where they plant mangosteen, coffee and rubber trees. The

fields have also been converted intofishponds by the battalions. The villagers had to

relocate and were forced to become day laborers for otherfield owners. The villagers

went to complain to the township chairman about this, but the township chairman didnt

do anything for them.



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35

V. Gold Min ing

The gold mining has been continuing for a long time and has become more advanced

and using higher technology. They have permits from the government and the support of

the Army. Wherever a businessman wants to do mining, landowners have to let them do

whatever they want. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.73

The Mining ConcessionsIn Shwegyin township, individua l businessmen a nd min ing companies from cen-tral Burma began prospecting for gold in 1997. Both small and large companiesa r r ived at th at t ime and su r veyed the land for m ining sites. Some of these m iningcompan ies a re owned by the sa me Ch inese and Sh an businessmen involved in gemmining in Mogok, Manda lay Division. In itially, gold mining concessions were lim-ited to a rea s nea r Mae Zaung, Ywa Myo, and Kyauk Na ga Army camps a long th eShwegyin River, even though gold deposits were known to be present in at least

seven other nea rby rivers: Mawt ama , Oo Poke, Tin P an, Kyauk MKu, Meh Si, MehLa P u a nd Bawgata.74

The opera tions h ave since expan ded, an d th ere ar e now nu-merous gold mining opera tions of var ying degrees of recovery inthe areas of Boh Loh, Ywa Myo, Pway La Her and Ka Neealong the Shwegyin River.75 According to one recent reportfrom th e field, there a re current ly between twenty an d th ir-ty hydraulic machines operating on the Shwegyin Rivernorth of th e town. Ea ch of th ese mining sites is estima ted

to separ at ely recover 1.5 kilogra ms of gold per m ont h.

76

There are also several larger mining operations alongthe Mawtama River with many smaller operationsfar ther u pstream , to the east a nd on its tributa ries;th e Kyau k MKu, Oo Poke an d P ago Rivers . Locally,gold from the Mawtama River area is consideredto be better qu ality tha n t he gold from th e Shwe-gyin River a rea .77

Both small scale and artisanal mining oc-cur s in th is area , as opposed to large scale min-

ing, which often requires international financ-ing and is characterized by extremely highrecovery rates and technologically advancedindustrial equipment. Large scale mineshave yet to enter Shwegyin township. Smal lscale mines, on th e oth er h an d, var y in size,ar e labor intensive, and in th is case u se mech-anized equipment and work under conces-sions awarded by the SPDC. Small scale min-ing operations in Shwegyin can have as many

as 1,500 employees per mine site.Artisanal m in-in g is characterized by rudimentary, traditional


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36methods, is labor intensive, and it occurs informally and on an individual basis,always as a mea ns t o subsistence.

A Burm an mine worker interviewed by ERI in 2005 stat ed tha t t here a re morethan 40 mining businesses in the area.78 The three most well known companiesar e th e Aye Mya Pyi Sone compa ny, the Kan Wa compa ny, and t he Ka Lone Kyeikcompany.79

The Ka Lone Kyeik company is owned by retired General Khin Maung Lonean d opera tes in th e Ka Lan ar ea. The Kan Wa compa ny is owned by U Aun g Tha nand Daw Yee, from the Pyinmabin section of Shwegyin town. The Aye Mya PyiSone company is owned by official SPDC shar eholders an d ma na ged by U Myat, anative of Shwegyin who now resides in Rangoon. All three companies conductsma ll scale mining in th e Pa ya Lay an d Ka Lay ar eas a long th e Mawta ma River,an d each em ploys between 1,000 and 1,500 workers a t th eir mine sites. The SPDCsMinistry of Mines, and the local Department of Mines, have reportedly issued ayearly plan t o expand th e concessions in Sh wegyin an d invite more compa nies toth e ar ea in 2006-2007.80

The mining concessions a re gener at ing significan t a moun ts of income for t heSPDC. This ha s been helped by th e price of gold nea rly quad ru pling over th e pasttwo years. In 2003, one kyat tha of gold (.163 grams) reportedly sold for 90,000Kyat in Shwegyin Township.81 In mid-2005, this pr ice jumped t o 220,000 Kyat inShwegyin an d 260,000 Kyat in Rangoon.82 Due t o inflat ion a nd concerns over th estability of the regime, the market price rose sharply again in October of thatsam e year to 340,000 Kyat, or app roxima tely US$ 242.86 per kyat tha.83 At t hesera tes, 1.63 kilograms of gold would cur ren tly be wort h US$ 242,860. Thus, one sitealone would be able to genera te su bstan tial profits for t he mine owners.

Mining companies with concessions upstream of the Kyauk Naga Dam havebeen more aggressive in their efforts to secure land for mining. This is due to adesire to extra ct a s much gold as possible before t he da m becomes opera tiona l an dthe ar ea is flooded.

Despite th e r apid economic activity, not everyone wh o invests in a min ing op-eration in the area sees a return on their investment. Some people, especiallyth ose ru nn ing smaller operat ions, find th e compet ition too difficult and lack theright conn ections or enough capita l to obta in good m achiner y. This ha s r esulted ineconomic devast at ion for some loca l people. One Bu rman invest ed nea r ly a ll of hisava ilable capit al int o gold mining, and within a short period of time h is opera ting

fun ds were depleted an d he wa s forced to aban don th e business. He n ow ma kes aliving as a pett y tra der, either selling goods pur cha sed in town to miners in m orerem ote ru ra l ar eas, or t ra nsport ing forest products back to Shwegyin for r esale inits mar kets.

These pr actices, which preclude villager s from profit ing from t he na tur al re-sour ces of th eir ancestr al lan d, cont ra vene th e U.N. Genera l Assemblys Declara-tion of the Right to Developmen t, which pr ovides, in r elevan t par t, t ha t local com-mu nities a nd individua ls sha ll ha ve full an d complete sovereignty over a ll th eirna tu ra l wealth an d resour ces.84


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37Seven years ago I had 40 buffalo and I sold some of them and got 50 million Kyat. I

invested it in mining but it didnt go very well and I lost the money I invested. If you want

to invest in mining you have to have good connections and good quality workers and at

that time I didnt have any of those things.


It did not go well and I lost the money I invested [fifty million kyat]. If you want to investin mining, you have to have good connections and good quality workers and at that time I

didnt have any these things. Everything was very expensive, so I couldnt support my

workers and I didnt have the money tofix the machines. My machinery was already old

and I had to keepfixing it again and again until itfinally stopped. ... The engines were

always breaking and the workers were always tired of waiting for the machines to be

fixed, so they went and got a job with other mining businesses. So I sold my machines at

a low price. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.86

Collusion between the SPDC and the Mining CompaniesIn order to operate, mining companies must first get permission from the SPDCth rough t he Bu rm ese Army, which, if gra nted, r esults in form al or inform a l conces-sions to mine. Permission must be received from the Strategic Operations Com-mand Commander in Shwegyin, the Southern Regional Command Deputy Com-mander, Brigadier General Thura Maung Ni, and through him, the RegionalCommander, Major General Ko Ko. Maj. Gen. Ko Ko is also the chairman of thePegu Division Peace and Development Council (PDC) and the Southern RegionalCommand is the military command responsible for the area of Pegu Division, in-cluding Shwegyin township. The Str at egic Opera tions Comm ander in Shwegyin isunder the Southern Regional Command and is responsible for the area aroundShwegyin township. He ha s severa l batt a lions un der h is direct contr ol. Althoughthere is ostensibly a civil structure, a businessman must first seek a relationshipwith t he Army before any hopes of mining can mat eria lize.87

When they [ the mining companies] planned to mine for gold, the soldiers secured the

area because the gold mining was approved by the Strategic Operations Command

Headquarters. Now there is an Army camp there as well. When a company wants to

mine for gold they have to get permission from the strategic commander.


Villagers interviewed by ERI claim that companies previously had to followth e forest ry laws if th ey wan ted t o mine, log, or set up plan ta tions, but a dded th atit is no longer necessary as long a s th e compa ny has th e perm ission of th e DivisionPDC.89 The Ministr y of Mines and th e Depart ment of Mines under it ar e respon-sible for the formulation of mining policy, exploration and extraction of minerals,regulation of mining permits and the coordination of the mining sector, but theyseem to have been left out of the process in Shwegyin township. Mining Enter-pr ise #2, which is r esponsible for th e extr action of gold, also does not s eem to playa clear role.90 Most of the pu rcha sing of gold is done by independent mer cha nt s inShwegyin rather than the Ministry of Trade, which maintains branch offices at


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38the township level to purchase gold from independent miners.91 Thus the 1994Mining Law h as litt le or no force in t his r egion.92

The Army pr ovides th e min ing compa nies secur ity, protecting the compa niesfrom a ny int erference by local civilian s or other Arm y un its. The Army adds mili-ta ry force to th e m ining compa nies effort s t o acquire lan d, intimidat ing th e villag-ers to sell. In addit ion, th e Army a lso provides secur ity for th e min ing concessions

in th e form of near by Arm y cam ps an d pat rols th at move thr ough t he a rea ; alsoproviding secur ity for t he miners when th ey tr avel to an d from th e mines.93

In retu rn for th is service, the m ining compa nies ar e required t o pay severa lfees to th e Arm y. Lar ger compa nies pa y 100-150,000 Kyat each m ont h t o the Divi-sion PDC for the mining concession and are required to send a report every sixmonths. Some compa nies opera te a s joint vent ur es. In th is case, th e compa ny withth e largest s ta ke in t he joint vent ur e pays a fee to th e Division P DC for t he conces-sion and sends a six month report. The smaller companies in the joint ventureth en pa y the lar ger st akeh older 60% of th e gold they mine an d keep th e rema ining40%.94 Brigadier Genera l Thura Maun g Nyi report edly purchased large tr acts of

land at below-ma rk et pr ices dur ing th e ear ly years of th e gold ru sh, using fundsobtained t hr ough joint ventu res.95 Under curren t leasing arra ngements, the Brig-adier Genera l receives 60% of all the gold extr acted on pr opert ies he n ow owns.

At t he local level, companies of all sizes ar e requ ired t o pay various fees to thelocal Army camps. For example, each month companies are required to pay 10-20,000 Kyat to th e local Army cam p a s a secur ity fee. The local camp also collect sa sa les ta x on th e gold sold from t he concession. Taxes are a lso collected from t hevarious small businesses operating in the mining areas, such as video shops, ka-ra oke sh ops, tea shops, and gener al goods sh ops. There is also a r esidence fee of700 Kyat for ea ch per son in t he mining area, including both min ing workers a ndth eir fam ilies. The soldiers collect monthly fees man ua lly, directly from th e m in-ing opera tions, a lthough a civilian is somet imes ordered to do it.96 See Appendix Afor a brea kdown of fees paid t o th e SPDC a nd t he Army.

Every month, we have to pay a tax of 100,000 kyat to the Pegu Division headquarters

and 10,000 kyat to the soldiers at Ywa Myo. Sometimes, we have to pay more than this

because the soldiers rotate at the end of every month and they demand that we give

them money for them to return to their families. Some soldiers work as miners because

the officer who controls the area is only looking out for himself. While the higher officers

receive a lot of money, they dont use it to feed the soldiers. Burman mine worker in Shwegyin township.97

Methods of Gold MiningVillagers a long t he Shwegyin and Mawt am a Rivers h ave tra ditiona lly pan ned forgold in the r ivers a nd t heir t r ibuta r ies. Near ly all of the gold found in the townshipis locat ed in t he a lluvial soils of the r ivers and st rea ms.98 Trad itiona lly, villagerspan ned or used sma ll sieves to explore for gold in t he r ivers a nd st rea ms. There a retwo other more involved meth ods of a r tisana l an d small scale min ing. One method

is to dig a hole and t ake the conglomerat e from the h ole t o a ma chine t hat ha s mov-ing screens of various diameters. The machine vibrates and separates the smallrocks and other material in the conglomerate from the gold which is removed by


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39ha nd. Another method uses gravity fed sluices with var ious sized screens at ta ched.In most cases of artisanal and small scale mining in Shwegyin, local people usepr ofits to supplement t heir incomes from their plan ta tions and t o pur cha se goodsand sust ena nce for da ily sur vival.

The gold mining started a long time ago in this area. There are many places that you

can mine in this area. People used to use small-scale techniques along the stream and inthe jungle. Now people use high pressure hose machines to get the gold. Last year there

were 40 gold mining machines in this area.


When m ining compa nies ar rived t hey brought Chinese-ma de hydra ulic min-ing machines to extract gold. These machines use diesel engines to pump waterthrough hoses at an extremely high pressure. The water is then directed at thebanks of rivers and streams to dislodge and wash away soil and rock. The sedi-

men t t hen goes into a large sluice. These sluices ar e norma lly lined with a chem i-cal which capt ur es th e gold par ticles in t he sedimen t t hr ough a chem ical processknown as amalgamation. Liquid mercury is the most likely chemical agent usedin Shwegyin, an d its use is widesprea d in gold mining opera tions t hr oughout t hecoun tr y, pervading Bur ma s na tu ra l environmen t beyond Sh wegyin.

After the mercury and the gold are separated, the remaining sediment iswashed away downstream .100 This type of mining is highly destructive to the im-mediate natural environment and to the ecosystems downstream; it has beenbann ed in ma ny coun tries (seebelow, En vironmen ta l Impa cts).

Most of the workers in these mines are Burmans from central Burma, Pegu

Division. The compa nies r ar ely hire local Ka ren villagers , most of whom a re ac-customed to farming, while the Burmans have more mining experience. For thisrea son, an d becau se Burm an s ar e cheaper to hire tha n t he local Karen , it is in theeconomic interests of companies to hire Burmans. Burman day laborers in Peguma ke only 500 Kyat per da y, but in th e Shwegyin m ines they can m ake 1,000 Kyatper da y, while Karen laborers in th e ar ea can m ake u p to 3,000 Kyat.101 Nonethe-less, the pay rates are double that of a day laborer in the capital of Pegu Divi-sion.102

If we dont have work in this area we will have to go back to our old place. We dont

have the opportunity to make the same amount of income there. People who are in my

village dont want to go back to their own land because they can make more money

doing the mining work. Its hard to stay in the town because everything is expensive and

there isnt enough work available.


As a t ypical exam ple of how a min ing company opera tes in Shwegyin, cons idera mine site in t he Ywa Myo ar ea t ha t em ploys 50 worker s. These worker s a re r e-quired t o follow str ict r ules for a n eleven hour work day det erm ined by the owner .

Worker s begin t heir workda y at 6am, working u nt il 12pm, at which point t heybreak for a one hour lun ch , followed by five more h our s of work . For t his th ey are


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40paid 1,000 Kyat per day. Food is provided by the compa ny. The work ers ar e str ict-ly prohibited from crossing to the east side of the Shwegyin River and they arestr ictly prohibited from bringing visitors to the ar ea. Speaking with E RI, one m i-grant worker who owned several hydraulic machines and employed dozens ofwork ers dur ing 2003-2004, described th e situat ion a t t his m ine site a s follows:

People mined twenty-four hours a day and each person was paid 3,000 kyat forworking both day and night. I saw many people become very sick and die from hard

work. At the beginning of the gold mining, we heard of many people dying of malaria and

dysentery. Some people died from landslides, especially during the rainy season. In these

cases, we cant give any money to the workers family because we dont have a contract

with their family. Burman migrant mine worker in Shwegyin township.104

Poorer people in th e ar ea - both Karen villagers an d Bur ma n m igra nt worker s- work as ar tisana l miners, pan ning for gold in th e ru noff downstr eam from t he

mines. At m ost, th ey are a ble to earn 23,000 Kyat per day from doing this, but ifma ny people are simu ltaneously pan ning th e sam e ar ea, which is comm on, recov-ery rates drop considerably. Regardless, these artisanal miners are required topay 2-3,000 Kyat to the compa ny th at ha s th e relevant concession. Beyond pa yingthis flat fee to the compan y holding th e concession, miners do not usua lly have toshow the compa ny how mu ch gold they were able to get, and in t ur n t hey sell th egold th ey recover t o locally opera ting mer cha nt s.105

Impacts of the Gold Mining

Land Confiscation and Loss of LivelihoodWhen the mining companies arrived in 1997, the original villages had all beenrelocated or forced to flee year s before. Th is, however, does not t erm inate the villag-ers r elevan t land tenu re nor does it imply they no longer h ave claims t o the land.

Man y villagers , most of whom a re Kar en living a long t he Shwegyin River, st illma inta in plant ations an d fields on t he lan d. As is comm on in t he a rea , the Armypermits t hem to work th e lan d but st rictly prohibits t hem from perma nent ly re-settling in their old villages; and furthermore, they are required to pay exhorbi-ta nt fees to th e militar y for such working visits. Villagers who are living in h idingin th e mounta ins near by the Shwegyin River a nd a long th e Mawta ma River oc-

casionally ret ur n t o work t heir fields.

In our area there are many gold mining sites on old village sites and they named this

area Tha Bway La Ha area. There are many old villages that have been destroyed in this

mining area. Now there are no more people in these old villages. We see plants, house

posts, broken pots and wells where the old villages used to be. I dont know anything

about this area. I know that before in this area there were many Karen people that had

shaut plantations. Burman migrant mine worker in Shwegyin township.106

Gold mining in Sh wegyin Townsh ip began as ear ly as 1995, increasing consid-era bly th erea fter . However, mining compa nies did not secure lan d right s an d con-


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41cessions on a large-scale un til 1997. West of th e Shwegyin River a nd n ear whereth e Shwegyin an d Mawta ma Rivers m eet, mining compa nies have used var iousmethods to control the land and commence mining. Most commonly, companiessur vey th e lan d an d offer t o pur cha se the lan d from th e owner a t a price well be-low market value. While some companies offer a nominal compensation, otherspay nothing. For example, Aye Myi Pyi Sone compan y compen sat ed villagers wh o

expressly appealed for compensation, giving 2-3 million Kyat for land worth ap-proxima tely 20 million Kyat . Compa ra tively, neith er Ka n Wa nor Ka Lone Kyeikcompa nies pay an y compen sa tion.107

Some of the companies are like the Army and they take the land from the villagers, and

some companies take the land but they explain that they are going to mine in the area

and they give some compensation to the villagers.


When t he compa nies can not persua de th e villagers t o sell their lan d, they re-sort to a st ronger m eth od, ar ra nging for t he Arm y to coerce the villager s into sell-ing. Typically, soldiers visit the landowner and urge him or her to sell the land.They are closely followed by a representative from a mining company who thenoffers a price far below th e land s ma rk et value. The r epresen ta tive points out toth e lan downer t ha t a t least some compensa tion n ow is better th an none lat er. Inthe coercive company of th e Army and a m ining company, villager s commonly suc-cum b to th e int imidat ion an d collusion, selling t heir land for a price well below itsmarket value. If the villager is particularly strong willed and the intimidationta ctics a re un successful, th e Arm y simply confiscat es the lan d. Arm y units based

ar oun d Sh wegyin, including IB 57, LIB 349 and LIB 350, ha ve seized land fromvillagers a nd given it t o th e mining compa nies. 109

Business people joined with the military and restricted the gold mining sites. If the

military found a place, they forced the farmers to sell their land.


There are three well known battalions in the Shwegyin area; LIB 349, LIB 350 and IB57.

These battalions keep increasing their project land. They take land from the villagers and

the land they dont like they sell under the table to the gold mining business people. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.111

Some of the business men in the mining areas buy shaut plantations and pay a very low

price. If the plantation owners complain to the businessmen about the low prices, they

threaten to tell the soldiers that they have a close relationship with the KNU. Because of

this the plantation owners are afraid to confront the business people in the mining areas.


Villagers who complain to the Army or the Shwegyin Township Peace andDevelopmen t Coun cil (PDC) ar e t old to show their lan d t itle deeds. The only landdeeds tha t h ave been issued in t he a rea ar e from th e KNU an d ar e not r ecognized


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42by the SP DC. Of cour se, the villagers do not da re t o show these pa pers t o th e Arm yor t he P DC out of th e legitimat e fear th ey will be labeled sympa th izers t o th e re-sistance. Some villagers have been told by the soldiers that their land is rebelland and therefore can be taken, while others are simply told that no one ownsth e land. The SPDC h as n ever issued proper lan d deeds to Kar en villagers, ma nyof whom lack even identit y car ds.

Under t he Constitu tion of 1974, which h as been la rgely dismissed since a n a-tionwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988, all land and natural resources weredeemed to be owned by the State. More relevantly, chapter V, Article 15 of thecur ren t min ing law (Mining La w 1994) gives legal go ah ead for th e practice of lan dconfiscat ion, citing th e int erest of the Sta te:

If, in th e interest of the Sta te, it is necessary t o acquire t he lan d where m in-eral production could be undertaken on commercial scale, the Ministry shall co-ordinat e with th e relevant Ministry for t he a cquisition of such lan d in accorda ncewith th e existing Law.113

The State also retains the right to develop, extract, exploit, and utilize the

land a s it sees fit .114 Without papers, the villagers have little to no recourse, andno access to just ice.115 The m ining compa nies, of cour se, ar e awar e of th e villagersinability to obtain proper land title, which they use to their advantage. The in-timidation and general lack of justice has prevented people from working theirplan ta tions or lodging compla ints t o th e Arm y, so ma ny, as a r esult, ha ve simplysold their lan d to the m ining compa nies.116

In some cases, th ese incoming m ining compa nies dest royed not only the landthey came to occupy, but also that of the neighboring landowner, which has cre-at ed inter -comm un ity conflict a nd h as ma de coopera tion bet ween villagers with inth e comm un ity very difficult. 117

The people asked the soldiers and the township chairman to not do mining there, but

the soldiers didnt care and didnt listen. They said, The land isnt owned by you because

you dont have a paper [land title deed] and the land is owned by the rebel groups. They

also said, The land is going to beflooded by the dam anyway, so it is better to go ahead

and get money from the gold mining. Most people are dissatisfied with the gold mining,

but they have to stay quiet because they will have a lot of problems if they argue with the

Army. They are also afraid. Some people feel that farming is useless in the area

because of the gold mining and other obstacles. Other people are still working theirfields,but they are afraid because they are now a smaller group and they are afraid to answer

the military officers questions. People only hope for thefighting to stop.


The business people formed good relationships with the Army and the Army put pressure

on the landowners in the area to sell their land to the business people. When the business

people went to buy the land from the villagers, they were able to buy it very cheaply.

When this happened [their land was taken] the landowners went to the Army and the

Army asked them to show their land license. When they couldnt show a land license, they[the Army] would tell them that they had to be satisfied with the amount that the

business people gave them. The companies and the soldiers do it like this and we Karen


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43people dont want to make trouble so we let them do what they want and dont say

anything. Karen farmer in Shwegyin township.119

In Shwegyin t ownsh ip, Kar en village sites that were subject t o relocat ion a nddesert ed in th e 1970s a nd 80s a re now reoccupied by Bur ma n mine work ers.These villages ar e not perm an ent, but ra th er temporar y sites housing miners an d

th eir families. However, t hey a re organized like oth er villages, including a villagehea d who report s back to th e Townsh ip PDC in Sh wegyin. This is systema tic an dha

Documents

Turning Treasure Into Tears