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REQUEST DOCS ON FORCED RELOCATION



       REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS ON FORCED RELOCATION IN BURMA
 
The Burma Peace Foundation (BPF) is in the process of updating
its dossier on forced relocation in Burma, and requests
documents on this issue by mail, email, fax or personal
delivery. 
 
The dossier, when complete, will be made available to
intergovernmental organisations (including the UN), other
international organisations, governments, NGOs, the media,
Burma support groups and so on. 
 
The current dossier ends in December 1993. Updates are
therefore required from beginning 1994 to the present (though
we also welcome earlier documents, since the current dossier
is by no means complete to end 93). The dossier will be
updated more frequently in future, and additional information
is welcome as long as the practice continues. 
 
 
The dossier will cover all ethnic groups in Burma, including
ethnic Burmans. It will be divided into a number of
categories:
 
* Strategic hamleting and all other relocations for military
purposes.
 
* Removals for economic, commercial or "development" projects
like dams, roads, railways, pipelines, airports, plantations,
shrimp, forestry, tourist projects etc. Displacement caused by
land confiscation.
 
* Removals to provide pools of forced labour
 
* Evictions from urban or rural locations for political or
"aesthetic" purposes -- such as people evicted from Rangoon
because they voted the wrong way in 1990, or the evictions
from Pagan to "clean up" the city. Evictions because people
cannot afford the alterations to their houses required by
SLORC. 
 
* Displacement by government-sponsored migration -- e.g.
SLORC's attempt to dilute the concentration of Rohingyas by
removing Muslim Rohingya villages and replacing them with
Buddhist Rakhines. Any information on government-sponsored
migration, even if it has not (yet) led to displacement. 
 
* Other examples of removals, whether by direct military
command, or indirect via economic sabotage aimed at destroying
village economies and thus forcing displacement.
 
* Any other causes or forms of relocation or eviction.
 
* SLORC Orders for removals, relevant articles in "New Light
of Myanmar" etc (Burmese originals and English translations if
available).
 
 
All forms of documents are welcome, in English or French --
interviews, reports, academic studies, press articles, photos,
videos etc. These can be from Burmese ethnic groups,
humanitarian organisations, human rights groups (local and
international), diplomats, political parties, journalists,
academics, Burma support groups, UN sources, international
organisations etc. For documents in Burmese or other local
languages, perhaps a short abstract in English or French could
be provided, and we could arrange for translation of selected
documents. If you know of relevant documents in publications
easily accessible in Geneva, or items on the internet, please
give references (location, title, topic number, date, source).
 
We hope to complete the dossier by the end of March 1997, for
submission to the UN Commission on Human Rights. If possible,
therefore, documents should reach us by early March. If you
would like to be reimbursed for postal, fax or photocopying
costs, please enclose an invoice or note of the cost (we do
not, however, guarantee to cover the cost of 500-page faxes
from Australia, Japan or even Thailand). 
 
 
Please send to Burma Peace Foundation (David Arnott)
85, Rue de Montbrillant, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland.
Fax (+41-22) 733 2040; Email darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx  
 
2/2/97