“In March 2006 about one hundred Karenni villagers from the Shan-Karenni border and Loikaw Township fled to the Thailand because of increased militarisation near their villages. There were more human rights abuses following the military’s increased presence in the area” – T-- M-- said.

Of the 155,802 registered refugees living in Thailand, people from Karenni are the second largest group with an approximately 13 per cent of all refugees coming from the geographically small state. Most of the refugees from Karenni State reside in two camps near Mae Hong Son in northern Thailand. The two camps house nearly 23,000 refugees.78

The exodus of people from Karenni State is a result of the protracted civil war, human rights violations and humanitarian crisis caused by the actions of the SPDC and their predecessors. People fleeing Karenni State for Thailand puts pressure on the Thai authorities to provide them with shelter, food, clothing, health care (including clean drinking water and sanitation) and access to education. For a country that faces severe poverty issues taking on the burden of thousands of additional people is a big commitment.

As these populations cross international boundaries they bring with them diseases and illness that can be transferred to the local people. Populations along Burma’s borders with Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand are susceptible to HIV/AIDS, drug resistant malaria and drug resistant tuberculosis that are coming from Burma, along with the people. Additionally, sick populations that have migrated to a new country add stress on the national health care system and non-governmental organisations that provide medical services – stretching their already thin resources further.

8.2.2 Ongoing Civil War

The protracted conflict in Karenni State has been ongoing for over fifty years. Communities have been caught in the crossfire between State and Non-State actors for half a century. Entire generations have grown up without ever knowing peace. The increased militarisation of the area has led to an increase prevalence of injuries from landmines, bullet wounds and soldier violence (beatings, etc.). Entire communities have been destroyed with over 3,000 villages being destroyed between 1996 and 2006 in eastern Burma – nearly one village per day for a decade.79

8.2.3 Human Rights Violations

Human rights violations have a huge impact on regional security. The systematic and continual violation of rights is often a significant contributing factor to people crossing the border and seeking asylum in another country. Human rights abuses are not infrequent occurrences. Over the past six years, there has been an increase in the incidence of abuses and their severity, particularly forced labour, land confiscation, arbitrary taxation and destruction of property (including food supplies and/or crops). As villagers try to continue living in their communities, it becomes increasing more difficult, as they slip further into poverty, until they are simply unable to survive. Some will then choose to cross the border and seek asylum, while others may turn to alternative income sources such as growing poppies and a portion of the population will continue to stay where they are hoping that the situation will change becoming one of the millions of people living under the control of the SPDC.

8.2.4 Drugs

At present the Sino-Myanmar border area is being flooded with drugs, posing a huge danger to the society and people, – Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao85

The impact of drug production in Karenni State cannot be isolated from the impact of Burma’s drug problem. In 2003 26 million people use amphtamines, methamphetamines or related substances and there were 16 million opiate users worldwide.80 The majority of the global production and trafficking of ATS occurs in southeast Asia and Burma is a primary supplier for this market.81 Burma and Afghanistan vie for the top position each year as the world’s leading opium and heroin producers. This ranking has resulted in much criticism from the international community, and the SPDC has begun working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on a drug eradication programme, which includes a crop-substitution project.

The majority of drugs produced in Burma, be it opium, heroin or ATS are exported through a number of land routes to Thailand, India and China, and other nations via sea. Among youth in Thailand there is a very serious ATS problem with one third of drug users in the kingdom being under the age of 16,82 in 2004 more than half of registered addicts in China used drugs produced in Burma83 and in India’s northeast Burma is this regions primary drug source, as drugs can be transported from Burma into Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland easily.84

The trafficking of drugs from Burma has contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region, which can be seen in China and India (covered in more detail in the next section). Most drug users admit to part taking in crimes, including extremely violent acts, while under the influence or in order to support their drug habit. Additionally the hospital costs for addicts who have injured themselves or are suffering from drug-induced psychoses take a toll on the public health care systems of their States. Furthermore, the costs associated with drug eradication programmes, police efforts to combat drug related crimes, cleaning up methamphetamine labs, and on a more human side rehabilitation projects, and looking after families, especially children, affected by drug abuses also impacts on regional stability.

8.2.5 HIV/AIDS

Now we find more soldiers dying to HIV/AIDS than to bullets fired by militants, Lieutenant General Bhopinder Singh, Director General of Assam Rifles statement on HIV/AIDS problems encountered by soldiers engaged in anti-insurgency operations in India’s northeastern States

Similarly, with the drug trade in Karenni State, the risk to security that HIV/AIDS poses is linked with that of the entire country. Burma itself is facing a widespread HIV/AIDS epidemic, with approximately 1.3 per cent of the population,86 aged 15 to 49, having the disease – one of the highest rates in Asia. Despite this the SPDC budgeted only US $22,000 for their national HIV/AIDS programme in 2004.87

Burma’s HIV/AIDS epidemic transcends national borders and direct links can be made between Burma’s drug trade and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Surmountable evidence supports that China’s HIV/AIDS epidemic originated in Yunnan cities along the Sino-Burma border. The evidence also shows that HIV was introduced through sharing needles while consuming intravenous drugs from Burma.88 Furthermore, 80 per cent of China’s HIV/AIDS incidents occur along drug routes from Burma.89 Similar information is being collected in India. A joint report from UNODC and the Indian government said, “Northeastern states which are distant from the Myanmar border have generally fewer episodes of heroin injecting compared to the sates which are closer to the border. Thus, there is a direct correlation between proximity to the border and drug abuse. Injecting drug users represent a significant incubus for the indirect spread of HIV to people who have never used drugs”.9

In 2000 the United Nations Security Council, in an attempt to bring international attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis, passed a resolution seeking to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This resolution, Security Council Resolution 1308, considered the threat that the HIV/AIDS pandemic posses to international stability and security.91

Footnotes

75 ASEAN Security Community Plan of Action, signed in 2003
76 “Threat to Peace Report”, DLA Piper Rudnick Gary Cary, September 2005
77“The Security Dimension”, Burma Issues and Concerns Vol 4, Altsean, April 2007
78 TBBC Website, August 29th, 2007, figures from the end of July
79 Reports from community based organisations regarding the large-scale destruction of villages has been recently collaborated by the Science and Human Rights Program “High Resolution Satellite Imagery of the Conflict in Burma”, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
80 “World Drug Report 2005”, UNODC, 2006, “ATS: A Need for Speed”, Altsean Burma, July 2006
81 “ATS: A Need for Speed”, Altsean Burma, July 2006
82 Taipei Times, Asian States run out of patience with Myanmar, October 11, 2005
83 Mizzima, Opium production decreases but amphetamines increase in Burma, March 3rd, 2004
84 Mizzima, Burma the main source of drugs for India’s northeast, May 30, 2006
85 China urges Myanmar to step up anti-drug efforts, AFT, Feb 15, 2006
86 “The Silent Dismantling of a Nation: The impacts of HIV/AIDS in Burma”, Burma Issues Newsletter, October 2005
87 “Responding to AIDS, TB, Malaria and Emerging Infectious Diseases in Burma”, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, March 2006
88 “The Security Dimension”, Burma Issues and Concerns Vol 4, Altsean, April 2007
89 “Threat to the Peace Report”, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, September 2005
90 “Drugs flow from Myanmar fuels northeast HIV epidemic: UN”, Indo-Asian News Service, May 30th, 2006
91 UN Security Council Resolution 1308, S/RES/1308, July 17th, 2000

To read other sections of the report please use the links below:

Executive Summary
Introduction
Oppression
Livelihoods
Health
Education
Drugs
Internal Displacement
Recommendations
Appendices