Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 29 Sep 1992 11:33:58 PDT
From:         "(Coban Tun)" <tun@QUARK.SFSU.EDU>
Subject:      Burma: Mon Refugees

Subject: Burma: Mon refugees

Taken from Bangkok based NGO B.U.R.M.A's publication.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Mon Refugees

According to the Mon National Relief Committee, Mon refugees living
in Thailand were given until April of this year to return to Burma.
This was of great concern to them because they feared not only
falling into the hands of the Burmese military regime, but since
they would be in a very remote area, they also feared they would
face starvation.

Several international organizations working with the refugees
helped intervene and recently the Governor of Kanchanaburi Province
(where most of the Mon refugees living in Thailand are located)
agreed to allow the refugees to all be consolidated in a much more
accessible area within Thailand.  This will, of course, make it
much easier to provide the food, medicines and other materials the
refugees need for survival until they can safely return to their
villages inside Burma.

The moving of these refugees to their new site has, however, not
taken place without some problems.  In a recent interview, a 48
year old Mon farmer with ten children described his experience as
totally depressing.  U Nyein said that he and his family had been
living in Pan Hmaing village since he fled Burma over fifteen years
ago.  Some of his neighbors had been in Pan Hmaing village for more
than twenty years already.  In his part of the village, the
population was about 300.  All are farmers.

On March 10 of this year, Thai troops under the command of the
local governor came into the village and ordered the people out.
The people refused to leave since they had lived in the village for
a long time already and all of their livelihood was situated in the
village.

U Nyein claimed that the soldiers then forced the people out and
began smashing the houses and the people's possessions.  Those
villagers who resisted were physically threatened, and some
arrested.  U Nyein's two sons, aged 24 and 19, were arrested and
taken to an unknown place.  At the time of the interview, U Nyein
still did not know the whereabouts of his two sons.
"Their (the soldiers) conduct was worse than robbers," U Nyein
said, referring to the fact that the soldiers took much of the
people's valuable possessions and their savings.

>From the village, the people had to walk approximately ten miles to
a refugee camp.  They could not carry any of their possessions with
them, so arrived destitute.  From self-sufficient farmers, the
villagers have now become homeless and penniless refugees.
Forced Labor

Mr. Maung Win a 33 year old trader from the Mon ethnic group,
claims that villagers from Kawkareik Township in Karen State of
Burma are being forced by the Burmese military to construct a road
from Moulmein to the site of one of the drilling rigs of a foreign
oil company.  The construction, according to Maung Win, began in
February of this year and every family from the villages in the
area is forced to dig a ditch 8' by 2' by 4' each day.  The earth
from the ditch is spread on the road to raise it above flood level.

The majority of the laborers are women as the men have run into the
jungle to escape being used as porters and mine sweepers by the
Burmese military.

The families must provide their own food, and if they can not do
the work demanded each day, they must hire other people to help
them.  Medicines are also not provided.

In February, Maung Win says that a foreigner visited the area to
inspect the oil drilling site.  He stayed for about one week, and
Maung Win claims that at least 700 Burmese military soldiers
provided protection for him during the visit.

The Kirkland oil company of England owns the oil concession in this
area.  Since there is little or no contact with villagers in areas
where other foreign oil companies are working, research on possible
forced labor in these areas is not presently possible.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU