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2 Another blot on Myanmar's rights
record By Clifford McCoy
MAE SOT, Thailand - Myanmar's army is
using the threat of starvation to force thousands
of civilians out of the country's eastern hills,
where the government is pitched in a protracted
battle against ethnic insurgent groups. As the
ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
continues its almost year-long offensive, new
reports are surfacing of troops targeting the
civilian population by destroying fields and rice
stores and even shooting on sight villagers
tending to their crops.
The controversial
military strategy, characterized by the military
as the "Four Cuts", targets civilians to undermine
support for
ethnic insurgents by severing
them from sources of intelligence, funds, recruits
and even food. The broad strategy dates back to
the 1960s and was largely instrumental in forcing
insurgent groups out of the country's central
regions and into border areas.
The current
campaign is designed to force the civilians out of
the hills of Pegu division and northern Karen
state, thus eliminating the last large area of
territory the insurgent Karen claim.
Significantly, the area is also the site of two
proposed large hydropower dams that the military
regime plans to build along the Salween River and
contains large untapped swaths of forests and
mineral and gold deposits.
In the field,
the Four Cuts strategy has been implemented
through forced relocations, the burning of
villages and random killing of civilians. Yet from
a military perspective, the most effective
component of the strategy has been targeting
village food supplies, and the latest indications
are that government troops are intensifying such
operations. Although the right to food is not
expressly guaranteed under international law,
numerous international agreements, including the
Geneva Conventions, contain provisions that
civilian populations should have access to
adequate food.
The growing attacks against
civilian food supplies have recently been well
documented in reports released by independent
organizations such as the Karen Human Rights Group
(KHRG), a grassroots advocacy group, and the Free
Burma Rangers (FBR), a relief organization that
brings medical and food supplies to displaced
villagers inside Myanmar. Human Rights Watch, a US
rights group, in late November expressed its
"grave concern for the food security of the local
population if the army attempts to disrupt the
harvest in order to take over food stocks for its
troops".
Human-rights reports from the
area of the current offensive have largely been
based on the testimonies of displaced villagers
still living in hiding in the area or refugees who
have arrived on the Myanmar-Thailand border.
Relief workers and human-rights monitors working
in the area have corroborated the villagers'
stories with photographs of burning villages and
rice stores, landmines and destroyed fields. The
reporting has covered such a large area that the
growing attacks on food supplies indicate a
centralized military strategy rather than the work
of renegade military units.
That strategy
is currently being employed against the Karen in
northern Karen state and eastern Pegu division,
which according to a November press release by
Human Rights Watch has resulted in the
displacement of about 27,000 civilians. More than
5,000 of these displaced civilians have made their
way to Thailand to join the estimated 145,000
refugees now seeking shelter in camps there. The
number of refugees seeking shelter in Thailand has
surged in recent years as the Myanmar military has
intensified its attacks against civilians.
US criticism, UN scrutiny Myanmar's military regime is under growing
international pressure related to its poor
human-rights record. The United States
successfully lobbied to have Myanmar placed under
the scrutiny of the United Nations Security
Council and is seeking a Security Council
resolution on Myanmar calling for it, among other
things, to stop attacks on the civilian
population. The US has significantly cited
Myanmar's threat to regional security as its
rationale for heightened UN attention to the
deteriorating situation.
The continued
arbitrary killing of civilians, burning of homes
and destruction of food supplies as a part of the
military's counterinsurgency strategy against the
armed opposition will no doubt add more fuel to
the diplomatic fire. The ruling junta has so far
shown little regard for international opinion,
continuing with its controversial offensive
despite the risk of coming under UN sanctions and
already threatened by the International Labor
Organization with legal action at the
International Court for its continued use of
forced labor. The ruling SPDC is also under
pressure for well-documented reports detailing the
military's widespread use of rape in conflict
areas and its alleged involvement in the narcotics
trade - charges the regime strongly denies.
The reports also come at a time when
China, India and other regional countries are
increasingly engaging Myanmar's generals to secure
new energy deals, some in contested ethnic
territories. While these deals have helped to
shore up the junta's coffers substantially and
clearly provide financial incentive for brokering
ceasefires with rebel groups, reports from Karen
state and other ethnic areas show that they have
not led to a concomitant change
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