Tenasserim Interview: Saw P---, Received in May 2011

Description: 

"This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during May 2011 in Te Naw Th?Ri Township, Tenasserim Division by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw P---, the 36-year-old head of a village in which Tatmadaw soldiers maintain a continuous presence. Saw P--- described the disappearance of a male villager who has not been seen since February 2010 when he was arrested by Tatmadaw soldiers as he was returning from his hill plantation, on suspicion of supplying food assistance to Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) troops. Saw P--- also described human rights abuses and livelihoods difficulties faced regularly by villagers, including: forced labour, specifically road construction and maintenance; taxation and demands for food and money; theft of livestock; and movement restrictions, specifically the imposition of road tolls for motorbikes and the prohibition against travel to villagers? agricultural workplaces, resulting in the destruction of crops by animals. Saw P--- also expressed concerns about disruption of children?s education caused by the periodic commandeering of the village school and its use as a barracks by Tatmadaw soldiers. He explained how villagers respond to abuses and livelihoods challenges by avoiding Tatmadaw soldiers, harvesting communally, sharing food supplies and inquiring at the local jail to investigate the disappearance of a fellow villager."

Source/publisher: 

Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)

Date of Publication: 

2011-10-01

Date of entry: 

2012-01-31

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Language: 

English

Local URL: 

Format: 

pdf

Size: 

243.33 KB

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