How the SPDC's use of forced labour affects the lives of the grassroots people in Burma
By Saw Htan Dah
The Burmese army’s consistent demands
for force labour drove Saw Dee Dee, an
ethnic Karen man, to flee his homeland Karen State, Burma, to look for a better life for his family in Thailand.
“I don’t want to live in Burma anymore because I have to go and do volunteer job (forced labour) for the Burmese troops very often. I don’t have time to work on my rice fields for my livelihood,” said Saw Dee Dee.
Saw Dee Dee, 64, lived in Pa Pu District, Karen State, Burma and worked as a farmer to survive under the military’s ruling system. To survive he had to rent rice field from other people’s, ox carts and buffalos to plough the field, to grow rice. Each year, it was just enough for his family to survive after clearing the rent cost of the oxcart, buffalos and rice fields.
However, sometimes Saw Dee Dee did not have time to look after his paddy (rice fields) or clear the grass around the paddy field because he was forced to do labour for the Burmese military. The work he had to do included building the military camp, cutting bamboo to make fences around the camp, cutting grass around the military camp and building defense mechanisms around the camp.
Nowadays, not only Saw Dee Dee but thousands of people who are used as forced labour each year by the Burmese military junta. The military junta uses the term of voluntary service when demanding uncompensated labour. However, to the villagers, it simply means forced labor.
Burma ratified the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Convention 29 in 1955. It means that Burma agreed to stop the use of forced labor or compulsory labour in all its forms within the shortest possible period. The Convention defined the forced labour as “ … all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself (or herself) voluntarily”.
But forced labour including portering, sentry duty, working on military infrastructure projects and commercial agriculture activities are still widespread in Burma. A report issued by the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards at the 96th annual conference of the ILO held in Geneva, Switzerland on June 15th, 2007, stated that forced labour is used by the SPDC’s troops across the nation.
The Burmese army uses villagers as forced labour for extended periods of time. Some forced labour tasks can last one day, while others take many months. On one occasion Saw Dee Dee had to work for one month in the military camp, even though the soldiers told him and other villagers that it would only take a couple days.
Sometimes, Saw Dee Dee and other villagers were ordered to go to the frontline to carry military weapons, food, and other supply for the Burmese troops. One time it took three days to get to the area where the military was carrying out their activities. During the journey in the jungle, the soldiers kicked many porters including, Saw Dee Dee, because they were moving too slowly. Saw Dee Dee could not bear such a heavy load because of his age. He had to climb mountains that were very high and walk through thick jungle that was full of landmines.
During this trip Saw Dee Dee’s knee got injured. Fighting between the Burmese army and the Karen National Liberation Army (a wing of the Karen National Union) and the porters had no protection. While sheltering under a tree a mortar landed and exploded near the Saw Dee Dee and the other porters, injuring his knee. Other villagers who were porters with Saw Dee Dee carried him to the Mouliem hospital. He had to stay in hospital for one month, and needed an operation. Even though he was injured while being forced to work for the military, the Burmese army did not offer any compensation. Instead Saw Dee Dee’s sister-in-law gave him 3000 Kyat to cover the cost of his medical and food expenses while he was in the hospital.
Three months after his injury, Saw Dee Dee said that he was forced by the military troops to go for ten days and build a road from Pa Pu village to Ker Ma Mote village and cleaning the grass beside the road.
Saw Dee Dee could not refuse to go and do forced labour for the SPDC troops. Villagers who don’t want to do forced labor have to pay the troops 3,000 Kyat or they have to pay someone to go on behalf of them. If anyone refuses the orders he or she would face one week in military jail and be beaten by the soldiers. Saw Dee Dee had no money to pay 3000 Kyat like others so that he had to work for the SPDC.
The fear of being used as forced labour by Burmese military government again forced Saw Dee Dee and his family to decide to move to Thailand. He said “I am getting old and can not stand the military orders to do forced labour often. If I live in Burma I will have to do forced labour and eat rice porridge (rice soup people eat when they do not have enough food) until I die “.
According to an Altsean report in 2007, Burma Issues & Concerns Vol. 4 The Security Dimensions, a human rights organization working on Burma, Saw Dee Dee is only one of the estimated over one million new arrivals of migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers from Burma living in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries.
Saw Dee Dee, his wife and his youngest daughter moved to Thailand with the help of his sister-in-law. She sold her ox to cover their transportation costs and for the traffickers who took them from their village in Karen State to Thailand. The sale of an ox received 15,000 kyat, which is equivalent to Thai currency 4,200 baht (US$143). The traffickers asked the couple for 5,000 kyat for each person to take them to the Thai Burma border from their village.
Saw Dee Dee and his family have been living in Thailand for a decade. He has been working as a day labourer, planting corn, rice and cutting grass for Thai people. He earns 80 baht per day to support his family to survive in Thailand. These odd jobs don’t come everyday but sometimes.
In addition to working as a labourer, Saw Dee Dee also collects empty beer cans, bottle, papers like newsletter, empty beer boxes and plastic and rubber that other people have thrown away to sell to support his living cost. He sometimes gets 150 Baht a month by selling these things which helps him survive with his family. Saw Dee Dee said “I feel shy about collecting the rubbish to sell, but I have no choice. I have to do it so that my stomach is full every day.”
He said, with his tear almost falling down on his face during the interview, “I will die in Thailand with my family. I believe that I can continue to survive in the world for only the next five years. Now if I go back Burma now there will be no benefit for me, I believe that I will face poverty, the use of force labor that I used to experience.”
Saw Dee Dee said that living in Thailand was better than Burma because he received wages every time he was requested to work. But, in Burma, he did not get any money from the Burmese troops after doing very heavy dangerous work, such as carrying supplies to the frontline or crossing landmine fields.
The military junta continues to use forced labour in Burma. Villagers need to spend time working on their livelihoods. If they don’t work or spend time in their rice fields, vegetable plantations or jobs they will have nothing to eat. Because of forced labour many villagers are absent from working for their livelihoods. It is clear that the people do not want to work for the military and are scared of forced labour - thousands of people, who are victims of force labour, move to Burma’s neighbouring countries to get a better life. The international community has to ensure that the military junta keeps their promise to stop forced labour. They can do this by continuing to pressure the junta and by developing a monitoring system that reaches all areas in Burma, including the ethnic areas.
Forced Labour in Burma Continues
In an attempt to appear to rectify the forced labour issue in February 2007, Nyunt Maung Shein, Burma’s permanent representative of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations office in Geneva signed a Supplementary Understanding with the ILO following several years of negotiations. This supplementary understanding means that there is an agreement between the ILO and SPDC which allows people submit the complaint about forced labor to the ILO Liaison Officer for inquiry, without fear of revenge.
This mechanism aimed to monitor the SPDC’s use of forced labour and possibly to put a stop to it. However, it has not. During an interview with Saw Law Bah, the head villager of Way Sweh village in Nyaung Lay Bin District, Karen State on July 18th, 2007, local human rights activist found out that over 100 villagers in the village were ordered by Light Infantry Battalion # 599 to do Loe Ah Pay (forced labour). This work included cutting thick bush along the road and grass surrounding the military camp for a day, from 9 o’clock to 5 pm. The head villager said that the troop demanded the villagers to clear it so that they could see if an ethnic armed group crossed the road and were going to attack the troops, making it easier to conquer their enemy.
To go to the other articles published in the October 2007 BI Newsletter click on the links below:
