This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted in December 2010 in Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw T---, a 59-year-old village head who, at the time of interview, was in hiding from Tatmadaw troops in an area of Tenasserim Division beyond government control.

...This report, "Migrating With Hope: Burmese Women Working In Thailand and
The Sex Industry" attempts to present and highlight the needs, interests, and
realities of undocumented migrant women from Burma working as sex-workers
in Thailand. We look at the lives of women in Burma, the migration processes,
processes of entry into the sex-industry, and factors which govern women's wellbeing
or suffering during the time of migration in Thailand. The authors hope
that the documentation presented will provide useful information to prospective

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in August 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Papun District in January 2011 and human rights consequences for local communities.

Executive Summary: "Recently, much attention surrounding Burma has focused on the democratic reform, 2015 elections and the future of the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led Government, whilst a profound humanitarian crisis and continuing concerns of the ethnic minority communities in the southeast have been largely ignored. The recent story of political and economic reform has insufficiently addressed the ongoing struggles of internally displaced persons (IDPs), as they become an inconvenient truth rendered invisible by the larger reform narrative.

Displacement as a result of conflict and human rights violations continued in Myanmar in 2008. An estimated 66,000 people from ethnic minority communities in eastern Myanmar were forced to become displaced in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict and human rights abuses. As of October 2008, there were at least 451,000 people reported to be internally displaced in the rural areas of eastern Myanmar. This is however a conservative figure, and there is no information available on figures for internally displaced people (IDPs) in several parts of the country.

#039;Total Denial' catalogues the systematic human rights abuses and environmental degradation perpetrated by SLORC as the regime seeks to consolidate its power base in the gas pipeline region. Further, the report shows that investment in projects such as the Yadana pipeline not only gives tacit approval and support to the repressive SLORC junta but also exacerbates the grave human rights and environmental problems in Burma....

BURMA ARMY ATROCITIES
PAVE THE WAY FOR SALWEEN DAMS
IN KAREN STATE...
"As Thailand proceeds with plans to join Burma’s military regime in building
a series of dams on the Salween River to gain “cheap” electricity, this report
reveals the atrocities being inflicted on the people of Northern Karen State to
pave the way for two of the planned dams.
The Upper Salween (Wei Gyi) Dam and Lower Salween (Dar Gwin) Dam
are planned to be built on the river where it forms the border between

Conclusion:
"...This memorandum describes a Myanmar military counterinsurgency offensive that
involved the widespread targeting of civilians in northern Kayin State and eastern Bago
Division. Myanmar Army soldiers fired mortars at villages, opened fire on fleeing
villagers, destroyed homes, laid landmines in civilian locations, forced villagers to work
and porter, and captured and executed civilians. The impact on the population was
massive. Tens of thousands of individuals were displaced during the campaign and many

This report aims to provide a picture of the current situation in central Shan State, where the military junta ruling Burma has forcibly uprooted and destroyed over 1,400 villages and displaced over 300,000 people since 1996. This campaign against civilians is still continuing, and the number of villages destroyed is increasing each month. In this report, some of the villagers who have fled in 1997 and 1998 describe their experiences.

Abstract:
"Decades of neglect and abuses by the Burmese government have decimated the health of the
peoples of Burma, particularly along her eastern frontiers, overwhelmingly populated by
ethnic minorities such as the Shan. Vast areas of traditional Shan homelands have been
systematically depopulated by the Burmese military regime as part of its counter-insurgency
policy, which also employs widespread abuses of civilians by Burmese soldiers, including
rape, torture, and extrajudicial executions. These abuses, coupled with Burmese government

...Sources say the industrial zones are creating another headache: forced relocations of villagers. The source says that farmers have been forced to give up their prized land in Mingaladon north of Rangoon to make way for Mitsui's industrial park. "There is no negotiation between the farmers and the government. The govenrment simply puts up a sign saying, 'Everybody must move by this date.' Everybody must obey it or else. Villages are silently angry but they don't dare protest." Adds another local resident, explaining the public mentality about reallocations, "We have to obey the king.

Burmese troops burned down around 50 homes in a village in eastern Kachin state two days ago as they prepare for an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), despite assertions from fleeing residents that no rebels inhabit the village.

In response, the KIA has told locals living in areas close to the town of Waingmaw to leave, prompting some 3,000 people to join those who fled the razed Aungja village as they make for the border with China.