Kachin State

91 Pages·2012·2.54 MB·English

H U M A N
“UNTOLD MISERIES”
R I G H T S
Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Kachin State
W A T C H
“Untold Miseries”
Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement
in Burma’s Kachin State
Copyright © 2012 Human Rights Watch
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-56432-874-0
Cover design by Rafael Jimenez

Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the
world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political
freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to
justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable.
We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and
respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international
community to support the cause of human rights for all.

Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries,
and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg,
London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,
Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich.

For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org
MARCH 2012 1-56432-874-0

“Untold Miseries”
Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Burma’s Kachin State

Map of Burma ...................................................................................................................... i

Detailed Map of Kachin State .............................................................................................. ii

Summary and Key Recommendations .................................................................................. 1

I. Armed Conflict in Kachin State ....................................................................................... 22

Brief Political History of the Kachin ........................................................................................ 22

Armed Conflict and Abuse in Kachin State: 1961-1994 ............................................................ 23

Human Rights Abuses Pre-1994 ....................................................................................... 25

Events Preceding Renewed Armed Conflict in 2011 ................................................................. 26

Renewed Armed Conflict in Kachin State: June 2011-Present ................................................... 28

Major Infrastructure Projects in Northern Burma ..................................................................... 29

Taping Hydropower Dam No. 1 ......................................................................................... 29

Myitsone Hydropower Dam ............................................................................................. 30

The Burma-China Oil and Gas Pipelines ........................................................................... 32

II. Burmese Army Abuses in Kachin State .......................................................................... 34

Torture and Forced Labor of Children ..................................................................................... 34

Attacks on Civilians and Civilian Objects ................................................................................ 37

Torture, Beatings, and Other Ill-Treatment .............................................................................. 40

Rape and Sexual Violence ..................................................................................................... 43

Forced Labor ......................................................................................................................... 46

Extrajudicial Killings .............................................................................................................. 50

Destruction of Property ........................................................................................................... 51

Child Soldiers ....................................................................................................................... 54

Antipersonnel Landmines ...................................................................................................... 58

III. Abuses by the Kachin Independence Army ................................................................... 60

Child Soldiers ....................................................................................................................... 60

Landmines ............................................................................................................................ 62

IV. Protecting Internally Displaced Kachin in Burma .......................................................... 64
Plight of Displaced Persons ................................................................................................... 64

Food Security ........................................................................................................................ 65

Humanitarian Access ............................................................................................................. 66

V. International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law ........................................................ 71

VI. Recommendations ........................................................................................................ 77

To the Burmese Government .................................................................................................. 77

To the Burmese Parliament .................................................................................................... 78

To the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Burma ...................................................... 79

To the National Human Rights Commission ............................................................................ 79

To the Kachin Independence Organization ............................................................................. 80

To International Humanitarian Agencies and the Donor Community ........................................ 81

To the UN Country Team and Burma-based UN Agencies ......................................................... 81

To the International Labour Organization ............................................................................... 81

To the Governments of Australia, China, Russia, United States, European Union, and Japan, and
ASEAN Member States ........................................................................................................... 82

Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 83
Map of Burma

I HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MARCH 2012
Summary and Key Recommendations
Human Rights Watch | March 2012
A displaced Kachin mother of three, 45, recuperates
from an injury from a KIA antipersonnel mine in a
hospital in Maijayang. She and her husband were
injured on December 19, 2011, unaware that mines
had been planted on their farm.
© 2012 Ryan Roco
“UNTOLD MISERIES”
Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement
in Burma’s Kachin State
They pointed the knife against my stomach
and they put it on my brother’s throat....
We were asked repeatedly where the KIA
[Kachin Independence Army] is and in
which house the weapons are hidden, and
then the soldier said, “If you don’t show
us and don’t give us the answers then you
will be killed and your hands will be cut
off.” And then we were tied up.
—“Mung A.,” 16, tortured and forced to porter
with his 14-year-old brother on the front lines in
Kachin State, November 2011
Soldiers would come and take the women
and bring them from tent to tent. We were
so afraid and we couldn’t watch the whole
night. The next morning, the women
couldn’t walk right. They seemed like they
were in pain. They walked hunched over.
And they were crying.
—“M. Seng,” 23, forced to porter on the front
lines for 19 days, November 2011
In his March 2011 inauguration speech, Burmese President Thein Sein emphasized the
importance of ending Burma’s several ethnic armed conflicts, declaring that more than
60 years of ethnic warfare in Burma were due to “dogmatism, sectarian strife, and racism.”
Burma’s ethnic minorities had, he said, experienced “the hell of untold miseries.”
4 “Untold Miseries”