"In 2002, the SPDC continued using forced labor in Burma; particularly forced portering for military operations; forced labor for military bases and income generating projects for the military and building and maintenance of roads. Despite the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in May, little changed for Burma?s ethnic minority groups, particularly the Karen, Karenni and Shan, living in rural areas where forced labor is regularly conscripted for portering, infrastructure projects and military support activities. The use of forced labor in these areas is often perpetrated under the guise of "Government Development Programs." Although the issue of forced labor in Burma has received much recent attention internationally, there has been little corresponding action by SPDC to eradicate it despite an order banning the use of forced labor which was promulgated in 2000 (see below). Two trends that continued in 2002 were the use of prison labor for portering during military operations and the collection of porter fees. Porter fees take on two forms; in one, each household in a village is required to pay a certain amount each month in order to compensate the conscripted porters. In the other, villagers are forced to pay a fee so that they are not conscripted as porters. Porter fees are a burden on villagers that should not be underestimated as its affects their livelihood in almost the same way that portering does. Villagers who cannot afford to take time away from their livelihood to porter also cannot afford to pay money to avoid portering. Both the increase in the use of prisoner portering and porter fees can be attributed to SPDC?s desire to improve its image in the international community. The use of prisoner porters lessens the number of civilian porters that need to be conscripted and when porters are paid with funds forcibly collected from villagers, the Burmese military can claim that the porters are paid laborers..."