People may be forced from their homes but their hearts remain behind
By J Clark
Imagine reading in a newspaper about a small
community near to you, which was reduced
last night to a smoldering pile of ashes by the military, whilst the people fled for their lives. What emotions would this invoke in you: anger, disbelief, fear or an appalled sense of injustice?
In total 27 per cent of the population of Karenni State in eastern Burma are displaced (81,000 out of the 300,000 Karenni people)1. Women, men, children, the elderly and the sick have been forced from their homes as a direct consequence of the actions of the Burmese military junta. Many of them are left wandering the jungle, vulnerable to disease, in shock, perhaps even in mourning for those who could not flee quickly enough.
At the junta’s brutal hands’ the peaceful, unarmed Karenni communities have been immerged in a life of violence. These violent policies targeting villagers are not new – the Burmese army has been targeting their alleged counter-insurgency campaigns at civilians since the early 1970s. Contradictory to the fact, the Karenni villagers are far from the insurgents who the junta weakly cite as justification for these and other horrific abuses of human rights.
There are many examples of the junta’s policies that have led to displacement of villagers in Karenni State. One is that since 1996, 273 villages at the orders of the Burmese military junta have been destroyed or abandoned.2 Additionally, rather than solely carrying out extra-judicial killings (which do happen) the Burmese soldiers focus on destroying the Karenni people’s means to survive by destroying their homes, crops and food stores as well as confiscating land. As 70 per cent of Burma’s population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, the affect these actions have in rural areas such as Karenni State, undermine the people’s ability to earn a living, making the people vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.
Furthermore IDPs’ find themselves without their home and exposed to the extremes of weather and hunger. Their food stores and farms often have been destroyed and looted by the Burmese military or abandoned by fleeing villagers. The only belongings they have are what they can carry. They have already had so much stolen from them, yet Karenni people continue to endure these losses.
In total 27 per cent of the population of Karenni State in eastern Burma are displaced
It is important to note that this forcible displacement of people means not just the loss of their houses - villagers also lose their livelihood (through the loss of land to grow crops or raise livestock) and face the break up of their well-established communities.
Burma Issues most recent publication “Living Ghosts” highlights that the number of people who are placed in this precarious position has dramatically increased since 2002 (when 57,000 people were displaced).3 This number fluctuates, however according to the figures recorded by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, a non-governmental organisation that works with Burmese refugees and documents the IDP situation in eastern Burma; there has been an overall increase in IDPs of 42 per cent in Karenni State in the past five years.4
There are two main factors behind displacement in Karenni State: conflict and development. Over 10 per cent of the Karenni population has been displaced because of conflict since 2002.5 For nearly 60 years there has been active armed conflict in Karenni State. The protracted conflict stems back to the central Burmese government’s deployment of troops to Karenni State in 1948, following the forced inclusion of the state into the Union of Burma. The Karenni population saw the deployment of troops into their sovereign land as an act of aggression and a threat to their right of self-determination and they retaliated. This conflict is continuing today. The Karenni people have had no respite from low intensity fighting and human rights abuses throughout this period.
However, over recent years development has also become a factor in displacement. The beautiful land of Karenni State of which the Karenni people are so proud, is rich in natural resources and this has attracted the avid attentions of the military junta and foreign investors who conspire to bleed the land of its financial potential. Many people are forced to leave their homes to enable the SPDC and foreign investors to carry out so called ‘development’ projects such as mining, damming and agriculture. All of this suffering is merely to increase wealth for the junta and sustaining further military actions against innocent civilians; surely this cannot be justified by the use of the usually positive term ‘development’.
The Karenni villagers receive no compensation for their losses when they are moved for economic reasons and no support to find another source of income. This is also true when people are displaced due to conflict.
After displacement the Karenni people have four possibilities: to go into hiding in the jungle, move to a ceasefire area, be forcibly relocated to an SPDC relocation site or flee across the border into Thailand6. However, once an IDP has crossed an international border, say from Burma into Thailand, they are no longer an internally displaced person.
Those who hide in the jungle do so because they hope to be able to one day return to their villages and rebuild their community. By choosing to do so they expose themselves to the threat of further violence at the hands of Burmese soldiers who classify IDPs as enemies of the state and whom they have a policy to ‘shoot on sight’.
The majority of the IDPs in Karenni State live in areas under the control of armed groups that have made agreements with the SPDC. In the past, these areas offered villagers some protection from the Burmese troops; however they were still vulnerable to forced labour demands, arbitrary taxation and other human rights abuses from the ceasefire groups. However, in many of the ceasefire areas the recently increased activity of the SPDC means that such protection is no longer available.
In 1996 the Burmese military forced tens of thousands of Karenni people to move with the threat of violence, placing them in relocation sites. The relocation sites offered a life of overcrowding, poor sanitation and little opportunity to provide food for one’s family. They were usually located close to military camps where soldiers can monitor movements and subject the Karenni to forced labour and extortion. These people live in fear that the soldiers of the regime will subject them to the systematic rape, murder and torture. As a result, many people have since fled these sites and moved to other areas in Karenni State or across the border to seek refuge in Thailand. The number of people in forced relocation sites has fallen to 4,8007 who face a threat of greater human rights abuses if they leave the relocation site and return to their communities.
Internationally little is known about the predicament that IDPs around the world face. However, what small awareness people do have is about displacement in Sudan, Iraq, and Uganda and in Asia following the tsunami. Little is known or reported about in the media of the predicament of those in the ethnic states of Burma.
Sudan, Iraq, Uganda, Colombia and the democratic republic of Congo have the world’s largest displacement populations. If you compare the percentage of the populations of these countries (and other Asian nations) who are displaced with that of Karenni State, Karenni State has by far the highest percentage of their population who are internally displaced. Sudan has the largest IDP population in the world which accounts for less than 13 per cent of their overall population. The percentage of the population that is displaced in Karenni State is more than twice that at 27 per cent. Yet conversely they also attract the least amount of international awareness and action. The internally displaced Karenni need the recognition that other regions of the world have attracted by their sheer number of IDPs. The impact on the survival of a whole ethnic population, which already has over one quarter of its population displaced, depends upon the actions of the UN and international partners.
The responsibility for the protection of displaced populations lies with the sovereign state which in the case of the Karenni IDPs is the Burmese junta. However, where the sovereign state is the very institution that is causing displacement, external intervention is required. The UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement states that if the sovereign state is either unwilling or unable to provide for the needs of IDPs, the international community has the responsibility to protect and provide. To date this responsibility has not been fulfilled.
The UN guiding principles also state that international humanitarian agencies should be given access to the displaced population and the delivery of aid should occur without hindrance. However, in Karenni State the deliverance of aid from international and community led organistaions is restricted heavily by the military regime. Far from ‘without hindrance’ these organisations operate while being subject to undue danger and restrictions of their work. An example of this is resources being stolen and sold by the SPDC (e.g. medications) or landmines being laid around the sites of villages, which have been destroyed. This leaves many of the Karenni people who are in need of aid trying to find ways to survive without the support of international humanitarian relief and under the ever suspicious and heavy handed monitoring of the SPDC.
Some community led organisations working from Thailand try to promote awareness among Karenni villagers about the UN system, UN resolution, ASEAN, international law, human rights, democratic principles and economic policies. Despite these efforts many Karenni do not know how to access help and support from the international community.
there has been an overall increase in IDPs of 42 per cent in Karenni State in the past five years
That said, the Karenni are clear in what they want their future to look like – and they are soliciting for a very realistic solution to their situation. They are simply asking to be left alone to live a peaceful life in their community where they can feed their families, practice their beliefs and maintain their culture, free from the fear that tragically has become a normal part of life for them. The thing that these villagers ask for is a simple request and yet the Burmese military junta is continually denying it.
The future for the population of Karenni State seems bleak. The SPDC’s policies of human rights abuses and forced displacement go largely unexposed and unnoticed by the international community. Furthermore displacement ensures that the Karenni are unable to educate or organise themselves in a way which can aid a peaceful challenge to the oppression. If forced displacement continues unimpeded by external forces the next generation of Karenni people will be further disenfranchised from their ethnic identity and from the international community and their opportunities to organise themselves to challenge their oppression will be further depleted.
As you read about the plight of the Karenni people perhaps you are thinking that something should be done to improve the situation and provide protection for the people. After hearing a news report of suffering which has inspired an often all too short-lived media frenzy, the ‘something should be done’ phrase is often over used and individual action is rare. However, though this statement illustrates heart felt concern, it does not negate the impact individuals in the international community can have when taking small actions to contribute to a collective action and increased pressure on governments to act.
The Karenni people are not so different from the people who are in your community. They value and care about the people who live in their community and they help them within their means. You and the Karenni people have something in common. You both appreciate home is where the heart is. Can you invest some of your heartfelt support for the Karenni people in calling for change?
Endnotes:
“Damned by Burma’s Generals“, Karenni Development Research Group, 2006
“Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma: 2007 Survey”, Thailand Burma Border Consortium, October 2007
“Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma: 2007 Survey”, Thailand Burma Border Consortium, October 2007
“Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma: 2007 Survey”, Thailand Burma Border Consortium, October 2007
“Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma: 2007 Survey”, Thailand Burma Border Consortium, October 2007
In addition to the 81,000 IDPs in Karenni State there are currently over 20,000 more Karenni people who have sought refuge in camps in northern Thailand
“Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma: 2007 Survey”, Thailand Burma Border Consortium, October 2007
In total 27 per cent of the population of Karenni State in eastern Burma are displaced
The Karenni villagers receive no compensation for their losses when they are moved for economic reasons and no support to find another source of income. This is also true when people are displaced due to conflict.
After displacement the Karenni people have four possibilities: to go into hiding in the jungle, move to a ceasefire area, be forcibly relocated to an SPDC relocation site or flee across the border into Thailand6. However, once an IDP has crossed an international border, say from Burma into Thailand, they are no longer an internally displaced person.
Those who hide in the jungle do so because they hope to be able to one day return to their villages and rebuild their community. By choosing to do so they expose themselves to the threat of further violence at the hands of Burmese soldiers who classify IDPs as enemies of the state and whom they have a policy to ‘shoot on sight’.
The majority of the IDPs in Karenni State live in areas under the control of armed groups that have made agreements with the SPDC. In the past, these areas offered villagers some protection from the Burmese troops; however they were still vulnerable to forced labour demands, arbitrary taxation and other human rights abuses from the ceasefire groups. However, in many of the ceasefire areas the recently increased activity of the SPDC means that such protection is no longer available.
In 1996 the Burmese military forced tens of thousands of Karenni people to move with the threat of violence, placing them in relocation sites. The relocation sites offered a life of overcrowding, poor sanitation and little opportunity to provide food for one’s family. They were usually located close to military camps where soldiers can monitor movements and subject the Karenni to forced labour and extortion. These people live in fear that the soldiers of the regime will subject them to the systematic rape, murder and torture. As a result, many people have since fled these sites and moved to other areas in Karenni State or across the border to seek refuge in Thailand. The number of people in forced relocation sites has fallen to 4,8007 who face a threat of greater human rights abuses if they leave the relocation site and return to their communities.
Internationally little is known about the predicament that IDPs around the world face. However, what small awareness people do have is about displacement in Sudan, Iraq, and Uganda and in Asia following the tsunami. Little is known or reported about in the media of the predicament of those in the ethnic states of Burma.
Sudan, Iraq, Uganda, Colombia and the democratic republic of Congo have the world’s largest displacement populations. If you compare the percentage of the populations of these countries (and other Asian nations) who are displaced with that of Karenni State, Karenni State has by far the highest percentage of their population who are internally displaced. Sudan has the largest IDP population in the world which accounts for less than 13 per cent of their overall population. The percentage of the population that is displaced in Karenni State is more than twice that at 27 per cent. Yet conversely they also attract the least amount of international awareness and action. The internally displaced Karenni need the recognition that other regions of the world have attracted by their sheer number of IDPs. The impact on the survival of a whole ethnic population, which already has over one quarter of its population displaced, depends upon the actions of the UN and international partners.
The responsibility for the protection of displaced populations lies with the sovereign state which in the case of the Karenni IDPs is the Burmese junta. However, where the sovereign state is the very institution that is causing displacement, external intervention is required. The UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement states that if the sovereign state is either unwilling or unable to provide for the needs of IDPs, the international community has the responsibility to protect and provide. To date this responsibility has not been fulfilled.
The UN guiding principles also state that international humanitarian agencies should be given access to the displaced population and the delivery of aid should occur without hindrance. However, in Karenni State the deliverance of aid from international and community led organistaions is restricted heavily by the military regime. Far from ‘without hindrance’ these organisations operate while being subject to undue danger and restrictions of their work. An example of this is resources being stolen and sold by the SPDC (e.g. medications) or landmines being laid around the sites of villages, which have been destroyed. This leaves many of the Karenni people who are in need of aid trying to find ways to survive without the support of international humanitarian relief and under the ever suspicious and heavy handed monitoring of the SPDC.
Some community led organisations working from Thailand try to promote awareness among Karenni villagers about the UN system, UN resolution, ASEAN, international law, human rights, democratic principles and economic policies. Despite these efforts many Karenni do not know how to access help and support from the international community.