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ILO Report Extract, Part 1 of 4



REPORT OF THE ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA

Below, please find, in three parts, extracts from parts IV (Examination of
the case by the Commission) and V (Conclusions and Recommendations) of this
report.  Footnotes and some sections of text have been removed to make this
posting as concise as possible.

Text (ASCII) versions of the Report can be obtained by email from the Burma
Peace Foundation in 50 sections of up to 37Kbytes (total 1.298 MB).  Send
an email message to darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx requesting the Report (expect a
delay of several days as a list of recipients is built up).

The Report is also on the ILO website:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/20gb/docs/gb273/myanmar.htm

Paper copies of the Report can be obtained from ILO Distribution -- contact
Mr Dunand, Email prodoc@ilo,org. 

************
FORCED LABOUR IN MYANMAR (BURMA)
 
Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the
Constitution of the International Labour Organization to examine the
observance by Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29),
Geneva, 2 July 1998


PART IV. EXAMINATION OF THE CASE BY THE COMMISSION

[ ? ]

12. FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION CONCERNING THE FACTS(309)

[ ... ]

B. GENERAL PATTERN OF CONDUCT BY MYANMAR AUTHORITIES

274. Information provided to the Commission indicated that the Myanmar
authorities, including the local and regional administration, the military
and various militias, forced the population of Myanmar to carry out a wide
range of tasks. Labour was exacted from men, women and children, some of a
very young age. Workers were not paid or compensated in any way for
providing their labour, other than in exceptional circumstances, and were
commonly subjected to various forms of verbal and physical abuse including
rape, torture and killing. The vast majority of the information covered the
period since 1988, the year in which the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC) came to power. While the information indicated that the use
of forced labour for all the purposes discussed was prevalent since at
least 1988, the use of forced labour on infrastructure-related work
appeared to have been much less common before 1992. In the paragraphs which
follow, some indication of the range of purposes for which labour was
requisitioned will be given, as it appears from the various documents and
testimony provided to the Commission.

275. The information provided indicated that Myanmar's military and various
militias made systematic and widespread use of civilians to provide
logistical support. This most commonly involved the use of porters to carry
a range of supplies and equipment. In comparison to other forms of
compulsory labour, the treatment of porters, especially during military
offensives, was particularly brutal; such porters were also likely to be
exposed to danger in combat situations.(316)

276. In addition to providing porters for the military, villagers across
the country, and to a lesser extent urban residents, were required to
construct and repair military camps and provide general workers for these
facilities on a permanent basis. A number of villagers had to be on
permanent stand-by at camps to act as messengers. Villagers also had to
provide the necessary materials for the construction and repair of these
facilities. This included camps for militia groups such as the Democratic
Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA).(317)

277. The information also disclosed a variety of other tasks that people
throughout Myanmar were requisitioned to carry out in support of the
military, such as acting as guides, sentries and minesweepers. It appeared
that such people were also used as human shields, in that they would be
sent ahead of troops to draw enemy fire, trip booby-traps, or as hostages
to prevent attacks against columns or army camps. This most often occurred
in the context of portering, but also occurred independently. In addition,
owners of vehicles regularly had to place these at the disposal of the
military.(318)

278. The question of forced recruitment into the "Tatmadaw" and various
militia forces was also brought to the attention of the Commission. In some
cases recruits appeared to be arbitrarily requisitioned, without any
reference to compulsory military service legislation, and included
minors.(319)

279. Information was also received concerning the use of civilians on a
variety of projects undertaken by the Myanmar authorities, most commonly by
the military authorities for what appeared to be income-generation
purposes. This ranged from the use of forced labour for cultivation and
production of goods to extortion and theft of property.(320)

280. The information revealed that over the last ten years the Government
of Myanmar had implemented a large number of national and local
infrastructure projects, in particular the construction and improvement of
various roads and railways and associated infrastructure such as bridges.
These projects appeared to be constructed in large part with the use of
forced labour, sometimes involving hundreds of thousands of workers.(321)

281. Similarly, it appeared that forced labour was used by the Government
in relation to a range of other infrastructure projects and public works
such as dams, irrigation works and airports.(322)

282. Urban residents in particular were required to work, usually one day
per week, on the cleaning and maintenance of urban areas. This was
organized by the ward authorities, but was often supervised by the
military.(323)

283. The information provided indicated that the use of forced labour for
the purposes mentioned above occurred throughout Myanmar, and affected
Burmans and the other ethnic groups in the country. It appeared, however,
that there was significantly more forced labour in rural areas,
particularly in less developed areas such as the seven States. Since these
States have a majority non-Burman population, the burden of forced labour
thus fell disproportionately on the non-Burman ethnic groups in Myanmar.

284. It appeared that persons exacting forced labour in Myanmar were not
subject to legal sanction, and were therefore enjoying full impunity.
Several witnesses who had undertaken general research and investigation
informed the Commission that there had been, to their knowledge, no cases
of persons being punished for forcing others to provide their labour, or
for committing abuses against those so forced.(324)

285. The numbers of people in Myanmar affected by forced labour appeared to
be vast. In 1995, Human Rights Watch/Asia estimated that since 1992 at
least two million people had been forced to work without pay on the
construction of roads, railways and bridges.(325) An indication of the
large scale of some of the projects on which it is claimed that forced
labour was used can be gained from statistics published by the Government
of Myanmar in its official newspaper, "The New Light of Myanmar".(326)

286. In rural areas, orders were transmitted to villagers through their
village head. The village head received instructions, sometimes verbally,
but more often in written form, from either the local administration (at
the village-tract or sometimes the township level) or the military (the
local military camp or battalion headquarters).(327) These instructions
usually specified that a given number of persons had to be provided by a
given date, or that a given amount of work had to be completed within a
given time-frame. It was then left to the village head to make the
arrangements. Often, the village head would instruct a certain number of
households in the village to provide one person for a certain period of
time, usually one to two weeks; at the end of this period, the workers were
replaced by villagers from the other households in the village. On certain
occasions, the order given to the village head would specify that one
person from each household in the village had to be sent, leaving no
possibility for rotating the requirement among the households in the village.

287. In urban areas, orders were transmitted to individuals through
officials of the ward administration. These officials received instructions
from the township administration or local military specifying the number of
workers required or the amount of work to be completed in a given time. The
ward administration officials then made the necessary arrangements. They
often rounded up people arbitrarily or sent them as a punishment for some
minor offence, but they also commonly held a "lottery" to choose which of
the residents of the ward had to go. The only way to avoid taking part in
the lottery, or avoid the obligation once chosen, was to pay a sum of money
so as to be exempted.

288. Small-scale labour demands usually originated at the battalion or
township level, but larger-scale demands would usually originate from a
higher level in the administrative or military hierarchy. For labour on
large infrastructure projects or for porters in major military offensives,
the order could originate at the national level and then be passed down
through the state/divisional, district and township levels.(328) The
Commission received copies of a large number of these orders (mostly from
local army camp, battalion, village-tract and township levels).(329)

289. The written orders to provide porters and labourers which were sent to
village heads by the local military or civil administration typically
contained some kind of overt or implied threat. Examples of overt threats
included such statements as "Anyone who refuses to come to build the road
shall be punished according to the law", "If you don't come because you are
afraid of Mon rebels, we the Army must show you that we are worse than Mon
rebels", "I warn you that if you make excuses and fail to come, violent
action will be taken against you" or "If nobody comes this time [you] will
be destroyed by an artillery attack".(330) In one case when two villagers
ran away from portering, an order from the military column to the village
head demanding their return stated: "Should this happen in the future, we
will take action and you will be charged with disturbing and causing delay
to our military operations".(331) Examples of implied threats included
statements such as "If you fail to comply it will be your responsibility",
which villagers knew from experience meant that they would face serious
punishment, or "If you fail to come we will not take any responsibility for
[your] village", which the villagers knew was a threat to destroy their
village.(332) Another common form of threat was the inclusion with the
order of some combination of a bullet, chilli and piece of charcoal,
implying that the recipient would be shot, face problems, or have their
house or village burned down if they failed to comply with the order.(333)

290. Local authorities regularly required village heads to provide detailed
information about the number of households in their area, and the
composition of those households. These lists could then be used to decide
how many workers a given village was required to provide, or the amount of
work a village was required to complete.(334) When a worker was required
from each household, this was usually irrespective of the number of
able-bodied persons in the household, or their gender. This could cause
particular problems for households without an able-bodied worker; in these
cases children or the elderly would have to go if a replacement could not
be found.

291. It appeared that a lack of effective coordination between the local
military units, the local and regional authorities, and other bodies
demanding forced labour could lead to sometimes impossible demands for
labour. Such cumulative demands resulted in women, children and older
persons being sent for forced labour duties, and could make it impossible
for the household to earn a living. One way for people to deal with such a
problem was to pay someone else to do forced labour in their place, or when
possible pay a sum of money to the authorities to be exempted, but most
rural villagers who lived on a subsistence basis could not afford to do
this very often or for any great length of time. In addition, it was
sometimes very difficult to find someone willing to work as a porter for
military operations, because such work was particularly dangerous, and
because there was a great demand for porters at such times.(335)

292. The information before the Commission was that the penalties for
failing to comply with forced labour demands were harsh. Punishments
included detention at the army camp, often in leg-stocks or in a pit in the
ground, commonly accompanied by beatings and other forms of torture, as
well as deprivation of food, water, medical attention and other basic
rights. Women were subject to rape and other forms of sexual abuse at such
times. The first person to be punished if a village failed to comply with
demands for forced labour would usually be the village head. For this
reason, the position of village head was an unpopular one, and it was often
rotated among those villagers competent to do the job, in some instances
with each villager having a rotation of as short as two weeks. Also, it was
mentioned that villages often chose older women to be village heads,
because the villagers felt that in virtue of being women they were likely
to be treated less brutally, and by virtue of their age they were less
likely to face rape or other sexual abuse.(336)

293. The information before the Commission indicated that populations which
had been forcibly relocated were liable to face demands to provide their
labour. Forced relocation of populations was a common strategy by the
military in areas with active insurgencies. Remote villages were commonly
ordered to relocate to areas which were more firmly under government
control, usually either to larger towns, or to rural areas near to military
camps. Such relocations could affect hundreds of thousands of people. It
appeared that given their close proximity to the military, these relocated
populations were particularly vulnerable to demands for portering and other
kinds of forced labour.(337) In some cases it appeared that forced
relocation had been used to provide a pool of readily accessible labourers
close to a major infrastructure project, or at least that the presence of
large relocated populations in the areas of some projects had been taken
advantage of and used for forced labour on such projects. This was the case
in Kayah State for the construction of the Aungban to Loikaw railway, for
road construction in Tanintharyi Division, and for road and railway
construction in Shan State.(338)

294. In addition to providing labour for various purposes, people
throughout Myanmar also had to pay various fees and taxes. It was indicated
to the Commission that in some cases these were arbitrary and
discriminatory. It appeared that the Rohingya population of Rakhine State
was particularly discriminated against in this way.(339)

295. Common fees and taxes which people in Myanmar were required to pay
included porter fees, ostensibly for the payment of porters; monetary
contributions to infrastructure projects (road tax, railway tax,
etc.);(340) miscellaneous fees to local army camps, in the form of cash or
goods; and a variety of taxes on agricultural produce, including compulsory
purchase of a proportion of the rice crop by the authorities, at a rate
well below the market rate. In addition to this, people also had to pay
regular sums of money if they wanted to be exempted from forced labour
assignments which were given to them; because of the arbitrary nature of
taxation, it was often difficult to distinguish these payments from fees
and taxes. In cases where people were unable to pay these taxes and fees,
they were often required to provide labour or services instead, increasing
the burden of uncompensated labour demands they faced.(341)

296. The information provided to the Commission indicated that the system
for the forcible requisition of labour was largely similar across the
country, and that the nature of this system was such that certain groups
were particularly affected by these demands. In particular, since it
appeared to be almost always possible to avoid forced labour if a
sufficiently large sum of money was paid, the burden of forced labour fell
disproportionately on the poorer sectors of society. The existence of a
cash economy in urban areas also meant that urban residents were more
likely to be able to pay to avoid forced labour.(342) In addition,
non-Burman populations appeared to be particularly  targeted for forced
labour, particularly in rural areas (see also paragraph 283 above).(343) In
particular, the Muslim population of Myanmar, including both the Rohingya
population of Rakhine State and Muslim populations in other parts of the
country, was particularly discriminated against in this way.(344) Treatment
of this population also appeared to be especially harsh.(345)

297. The information before the Commission disclosed that there was a
significant social and financial impact of forced labour on those who were
subjected to it.(346) Forced labour caused the poorer sections of society
who carried out the majority of the labour to become increasingly
impoverished. Day labourers needed paid work every day in order to obtain
sufficient income and that became impossible when they were forced to
provide uncompensated labour. Families who survived on subsistence farming
also required every member of the family to contribute to this
labour-intensive work, particularly at certain times of the year. Demands
for forced labour seriously affected such families. Families who were no
longer able to support themselves often moved to an area where they thought
the demands for forced labour would be less; if this was not possible, they
would often leave Myanmar as refugees. Information provided to the
Commission indicated that forced labour was a major reason behind people
leaving Myanmar and becoming refugees.(347)

298. Finally, there was information before the Commission regarding the
relationship between Buddhist values and labour contribution. The
information indicated that while various deeds, including contribution of
labour for certain purposes, were considered noble and meritorious
according to the values held by Buddhists in Myanmar, it was not the case
that labour for roads or bridges, or forced labour of any kind, could be
considered noble and meritorious in this way. According to the information
received, Buddhism was clear as to which kinds of acts were meritorious,
and such things as construction of roads and bridges could not be
considered among them; Buddhism was also clear that merit came not from the
act itself, but from the intentions of the person in carrying out the act,
so that an act which was forced to be carried out could not be considered
meritorious. Furthermore, since much of the forced labour in the country
was exacted from non-Buddhist ethnic people, considerations of this kind
were irrelevant in these cases.(348) 

C. THEMATIC ANALYSES OF THE FORMS OF LABOUR AND SERVICES REQUISITIONED BY
CERTAIN AUTHORITIES

299. This part of the chapter presents a thematic analysis of the forms of
forced labour and services requisitioned by certain authorities in Myanmar.
The first four sections deal with work directly related to the military or
militia groups (portering, military camp work, other work in support of the
military and forced recruitment). The latter four sections deal with work
which, although it commonly involves these groups, is of a more general
nature (work on agriculture, logging and other production projects,
construction and maintenance of roads, railways and bridges, other
infrastructure work and general urban work).


(1) Portering

(a) Documentary material

300. Nature and conditions of work. Because of the rugged terrain and lack
of roads and other infrastructure in many parts of Myanmar, the army
regularly moved troops and supplies on foot.(349) In general, civilian
porters were used for this purpose, usually against their will. [ ? ].
Porters were also often sent ahead of soldiers in potential danger
situations, to draw enemy fire or in the hope that insurgents would not
attack when there was a danger that the porters might be killed. They were
also sent ahead of troops in suspected minefields, to detonate mines; many
were reportedly killed or injured in this way.(351)

301. Soldiers appeared to generally prefer able-bodied males to work as
porters, since they were able to move more quickly and carry heavier loads.
In cases where women were taken as porters, they were generally released as
soon as men were found to replace them, though this could in certain
circumstances be after a considerable period of time.(352)

302. The methods used to procure porters varied. For major operations where
large numbers of porters were required, various procurement methods were
used. Orders to provide porters emanated from the highest levels of the
military command structure.(353) Depending on the number of porters
required, the quota might be spread over a number of districts, or even
over a number of States and Divisions.(354) The order would be transmitted
down the administrative command structure, so that a given township would
be required to send a certain number of porters to a certain gathering
point on a certain date. In order to fill this quota, orders were sent to
each ward and village to provide a particular number of people. In cases
where it was difficult to fill the quota in this way, the authorities
resorted to rounding up civilians in urban areas, at such places as
cinemas, video halls, tea- shops, stations, from buses or trains, or at any
other place where there were large gatherings of people, such as at
markets, religious festivals, weddings or funerals.(355) In rural areas,
troops went into villages and rounded up everyone they could catch. In the
absence of a sufficient number of able-bodied men, the authorities would
take women, children, the elderly, and persons otherwise unfit for
work.(356) The only way to avoid being taken was to pay a substantial sum
of money (of the order of several thousand kyat(257)) to the authorities to
be exempted from this work. Having released those people who paid such a
sum, the authorities would have to round up more people to replace them. It
appeared that often the authorities would round up many more people than
required, knowing that some would pay money to be released; the amount of
money to be paid would depend on the number of "spare" people they had
rounded up.(358)

303. Prisoners were also regularly sent from prisons and labour camps
across the country to be used by the army in major offensives. They
continued to wear prison uniforms and were usually kept separate from the
other porters. In certain cases, prisoners were forced to continue working
in such conditions beyond their normal release date.(359)

304. In rural areas, orders to provide porters usually gave some general
indication of what task the porters were required for: general duties at
the army camp, a particular task such as carrying supplies to the camp, or
for a military operation. It was then up to the village head to arrange
which villagers would go. In addition, villages had to provide a fixed
number of porters to each of the army camps in their area on a permanent
basis; this would normally be done by villagers in rotating shifts of a few
days. The only way to avoid such duties was to hire a replacement or in
some cases pay a sum of money to be exempted.

305. Urban populations were normally only required to provide porters at
times of major operations [ ? ].

306. When people were ordered to work as porters either by the village head
or local authorities, or directly by the military, no indication was
normally given as to the length of the assignment. [ ? ].(360)

307. In addition to rounding people up in an organized way, or ordering
local authorities to provide them, military units also captured people at
random from villages and rural areas which they passed through. [ ? ].
Military units constantly needed to "top-up" their supply of porters, to
replace those who had been killed, who had escaped, or who were sick or
otherwise unable to continue. Taking porters might also be used as a means
of extorting money from the community, or as a means of punishment or
oppression.(361) The only way to avoid being taken as a porter in such
circumstances was to pay a sum of money to be exempted. In cases where
people were taken directly by soldiers to work as porters, the family of
the person was not notified.(362)

308. When troops arrived in a village, the men would often have already
fled, because they feared being arrested or killed by the army,
particularly in conflict areas where they might be accused of being rebels.
The women usually stayed behind, because they were likely to be treated
less violently. In such cases, the women were liable to be taken as porters
if the troops could find no men.(363) There were cases where pregnant women
and nursing mothers were taken by force to work as porters.(364)

309. Given the wide variation in the amount of portering work required of
different villages at different times, it would appear that little attempt
was made to keep such requirements within any kind of limit. [ ? ].(365)

310. The length of portering assignments varied considerably, and depended
on a number of factors. Porters taken on routine patrols would usually be
replaced at regular intervals of around two weeks by other people from the
same village. It was up to the village head to find out where the troops
were, and send the replacements. Porters were not normally released until
their replacements arrived. Sometimes it was difficult for replacements to
be sent, either because the troops were a long distance from the village,
or because their whereabouts was unknown. In such cases porters might have
to work for considerably longer periods.

311. Porters taken for offensives usually had to work for much longer
periods, since it was much more difficult for them to be replaced, and the
demand for porters was very high at such times. Given the dangers of
disease, injury or abuse at the hands of the soldiers, many porters chose
to flee rather than waiting to be released. Escaping porters were routinely
shot, and if recaptured were beaten or killed in front of other porters as
a warning.(366) Porters who attempted escape in conflict areas appeared to
suffer the most severe retaliation.

312. Villagers and townspeople across Myanmar had to pay a variety of fees
and taxes including the "porter fee".(367) This was in addition to any
money which might have to be paid to avoid doing actual work as a porter,
since payment of porter fees did not appear to reduce the demand on a
community to provide porters; if a community failed to pay porter fees,
however, a likely punishment was an increase in the demand for porters,
since people who failed to pay such fees were typically arrested and used
as porters. While collection of these fees was ostensibly for the purpose
of providing salaries to porters, it appeared that porters were in fact
never paid, except when they were hired by another person to go in their
place.(368)

313. It could, however, be difficult or at least extremely expensive to
hire a replacement for some kinds of portering work, particularly portering
in military operations, which lasted for a long time and was particularly
dangerous and demanding.(369)

314. The Commission received a great deal of information detailing the
situation of porters during their assignments. This information indicated
that porters were generally given loads of 30 to 40 kg for men and 20 to 30
kg for women, though reports of porters having to carry up to 50 kg were
not uncommon.(370) This could consist of food, ammunition, soldiers'
backpacks or other items, usually carried in woven cane or bamboo baskets,
with straps across the shoulders and an additional strap across the
forehead. When excessive loads were carried for prolonged periods, the
straps of the basket and the basket itself dug into the flesh of the
shoulders and back, causing serious injuries and sometimes exposing the
bone.(371) Injuries to the feet were also common.(372) Women and children
were generally given lighter loads, but otherwise the size of the load was
generally irrespective of the age, physical fitness or strength of the
person in question.(373)

315. Porters were required to carry such loads for long distances, resting
only as and when the troops themselves rested. Porters regularly had to
carry such loads for a period in excess of 12 hours per day with little
rest, over periods of days, weeks or months. It was not uncommon,
particularly in offensives, for porters to have to carry their loads
continuously for 24 or 36 hours with no sleep.(374) Porters, particularly
those who had been rounded up without warning and forced to work, would
have few belongings, usually only the clothes they were wearing at the time
they were rounded up. They were not provided with any additional clothing,
blankets or adequate footwear.

316. Porters were generally fed minimal rations amounting to between a half
and one tin of rice per day,(375) sometimes accompanied by a little salt,
some chillies, or some watery yellow-pea curry.(376) [ ? ].  

317. Female porters were sometimes raped or otherwise sexually abused by
soldiers.(379) Porters who walked too slowly were regularly beaten with
sticks, punched, kicked, hit with rifle butts or prodded with
bayonets.(380) Porters who were persistently slow, or who were unable to
carry their loads because of exhaustion, sickness or injury were often
severely beaten and forced to continue, or if this was not possible they
were abandoned or killed.(381) The killing of porters who could not
continue appeared to be more common in potential conflict areas.(382) In
such areas, porters were usually not shot, but were beaten to death, had
their throats cut, were thrown from the sides of mountains, were thrown
into rivers with their hands tied behind their backs, or were burned
alive.(383) Porters who were able to carry their loads at the required
pace, who did not slip or fall and who were otherwise obedient were
generally not beaten.

318. In addition to those who were executed, many porters died from
disease, particularly malaria and gastrointestinal infections. [ ? ].

319. Porters were also exposed to dangerous combat situations.(385) This
could include exposure to mines and other kinds of booby-traps, ambushes
and major or minor battles. [ ? ] (S)oldiers sometimes forced porters to
walk ahead of them in areas where mines, other booby-traps, or ambushes
were suspected in order to minimize the exposure of troops to such dangers;
if they were carrying ammunition, porters also had to take this to soldiers
requiring it during battles.(386) There were also reportedly cases of
soldiers forcing porters to exchange clothes with them, in order to draw
enemy fire.(387) [ ? ].

320. To prevent their escape, porters were guarded at all times. During the
day they were often tied together, or to their loads, and they were kept
guarded in bunkers or tied together in groups at night.(390) At night, they
often had to sleep in the open, with no shelter or blankets provided, even
in cold and wet situations. During actual fighting, where they might be
able to take advantage of the confusion to escape, porters were often kept
in the middle of the soldiers so as to make escape more difficult.(391) [ ? ].

321. In cases where large numbers of porters were needed and the quota was
spread over a wide area, people might be taken considerable distances from
their homes. Cases of people being taken from the capital Yangon or even
Rakhine State to work as porters in offensives near the Thai border were
not uncommon. It was suggested that this might be a deliberate strategy to
reduce the chances of porters escaping, since they would be in territory
which was unfamiliar to them.(392)

322. If such people did manage to escape, or if they were released after
some period, they would find themselves in an unfamiliar area, with no
money or possessions. No provision was made for released porters to be
transported back to their homes, though in some cases they might be given
passes which should allow them to pass through military checkpoints in the
area. Such escaped or released porters often became internally displaced,
with no opportunity of returning to their homes. They were liable to be
arrested as porters by some other military unit as they passed through
checkpoints or if they ran into military patrols.(393)

[ ? ] 

(b) Oral testimony

334. Over 186 witnesses stated that they had had experience of portering,
either because they themselves were forced to transport food, equipment and
ammunitions for the military or because members of their family -- wives,
husbands or parents -- had been forced to do so. Testimonies gathered by
the Commission tell of events that occurred in Chin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon,
Rakhine and Shan States and in Magway, Sagaing, Tanintharyi and Yangon
Divisions. They provide ample coverage of the years from 1993 to the
present, though a number of witnesses also referred to events which
occurred prior to this period.

335. Portering is clearly a common form of forced labour, experienced by
most of the witnesses who provided testimony to the Commission. It is also
the most arduous and the most degrading. Several witnesses made the point
that portering is a further task added to the other forms of labour or
services already imposed by the military; consequently, very little time is
left to the workers to provide for their own personal and economic needs.(423)

[ ? ]


340. Witnesses gave evidence of two methods used by the military across
Myanmar to recruit porters. They may either use the services of the local
village head or act on their own. In the former case, the orders are
transmitted to the village head(428) with instructions to provide a given
number of porters within an often very short time-limit.(429) Village and
section heads who were questioned said that they were absolutely obliged to
comply with the orders of the military under pain of physical
punishment;(430) these threats are sometimes expressed by the attachment of
a bullet, a piece of charcoal or a chilli(431) to the order, meaning that
violent reprisals may be taken against the village head or his village in
the event of non-compliance. One person per family is generally
requisitioned. It appears from the evidence that the pressure subsequently
put on villagers to meet the requirements of successive requisitions is
such that many of them prefer to run away, rather than have to accompany
military units on their patrols or operations.(432)

341. The second method for recruiting porters consists of the military
forcibly apprehending or seizing the persons they need.(433) They intervene
thus as their needs arise, and especially when the order transmitted to the
local authority has not been carried out properly, such as when the village
head has not provided a sufficient number of porters within the imposed
time-limits. The situation of the Rohingyas in the north of Rakhine State
is exacerbated by the fact that their services may be required, in an
uncoordinated manner, by different authorities, such as the "Tatmadaw", the
NaSaKa or the police.(434)

342. Men, women and children, some of them only ten or so years old, stated
that they have been forced to do portering for the military.(435) Only
Rohingya witnesses from the northern Rakhine State stated that portering
was done exclusively by males.

343. While men are generally preferred for portering, they sometimes run
away and thus avoid having to accompany the military, in which case the
troops then take women and children. The evidence further shows that the
women are even more vulnerable than the men in this context because, in
addition to the portering work, they are subjected to sexual abuse by the
military.(436) A refusal to do the portering required is absolutely
inconceivable as it is systematically met with physical punishment(437) or
fines.(438)

344. The porters have to transport ammunition, equipment and food, making
up, in the case of the men, a load weighing over 30 kilos.(439) [ ? ].

345. In all portering, the porters are forced to march from morning to
evening, often not being allowed a moment's rest.(444) One deserter
estimated that 20 to 30 porters were required for 30 soldiers on a routine
journey.(445) However, the number of porters increases with the scale of
the military operation in which the division, battalion or company is
taking part.(446)

346. While portering between camps or on military operations or patrols,
the porters are often placed ahead of the column, since they act as
guides;(447) by putting them in front, the military also use them to detect
mines which might explode as they pass.(448) During armed conflict, the
porters are used as human shields,(449) many of them getting killed in the
process.(450) When caught up in such a confrontation, the porters have to
stay with the soldiers to keep them supplied with ammunition, on pain of
being shot if they try to escape.(451)

347. The length of time of a portering journey in the eastern part of the
country varies and can stretch over several months(452) whereas portering
assignments described by Rohingyas generally last less than a week but may
be repeated several times a month.(453) [ ? ].  (I)t is common for a porter
who has completed a portering assignment to be seized on his way home by
another military unit to carry their equipment.(455)

348. There is ample evidence before the Commission concerning the general
conditions in which portering from one camp to another or during military
operations or patrols is carried out and the ill-treatment to which the
porters are systematically subjected. The persons requisitioned are not
paid,(456) and if they are fed, the food is insufficient and of poor
quality.(457) The witnesses often mentioned a portion of rotten rice so
tiny that it could be held in the hollow of one hand. To prevent the
porters from fleeing, they are sometimes chained up and closely
guarded.(458) When injured or ill, all the porters questioned claimed never
to have been given the necessary medical attention, some of them having
even been left behind alone in the jungle.(459)

349. If the porters cannot keep up with the column, or if they show any
sign of weakness, the military do not hesitate to beat or violently punch
them, causing injuries which can have serious if not fatal
consequences.(460) On other occasions, the military did not hesitate to
shoot porters(461) because they were too weak, had tried to escape or
simply with a view to inspiring fear and terror in the other porters.(462)

350. Several witnesses stated that it was often possible to avoid portering
in so far as a certain sum of money was paid to the military or to the
authorities. The amounts indicated to the Commission in this respect varied
considerably.(463) For example, one witness paid 600 kyat monthly over a
period of nearly 15 years so as to avoid having to do portering for the
military.(464) Others indicated that it was possible to send a substitute
to do the portering in their place.(465)