Convicts used as slave labor in Burma

Faced with international condemnation for its use of civilians as forced labor, the Burmese military regime has been raiding the country's prisons to force convicts to perform slave-like work in army camps, even resulting in their deaths, say rights activists. Just how extensive this practice–where convicts are "treated like pack animals, constantly beaten and killed as soon as they are no longer useful"–is only now coming to light following a temporary halt of Rangoon's military offensive in the eastern Karen state, says a human rights group. "The Burmese military has used more convict porters and laborers during its advance in the Karen state that began in November 2005 than during previous years," Stephen Hull, lead author of a recent report by the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), told IPS. "The military advance has not stopped, only slowed down due to the monsoon rains." According to KHRG estimates, the prisoners are grouped into 300 to 500-strong labor teams for the back-breaking work of carrying heavy loads for the army, which includes ammunition, food, soldiers' personal gear and "villagers' belongings looted along the way [by the Burmese troops]." During the previous year, the convict labor forces were "about 50 per battalion," says Hull. "Some of the larger [military] columns have approximately 300 troops and as many as 400 convict porters; the total number of the convict porters in the three northern Karen districts right now is difficult to estimate, but probably lies between 3,000 and 5,000," states "Less than Human: Convict Porters in the 2005-2006 Northern Karen State Offensive." At the worst of times, the convict labor force, kept in shackles when not on the move, is driven to walk ahead of military patrols to serve as "human shields or mine-sweepers," it reveals. "Soldiers routinely kill convict porters, at times leaving a trail of bodies along the route of their patrol.... In other instances, soldiers execute porters after torturing them as a form of exemplary punishment because the victims had attempted to escape." "They are not allowed to rest, drink or talk while marching," it adds. "As a consequence, convict porters often collapse under their loads only to be subjected to threats and beatings." The military offensive launched by Rangoon to take hold of areas that have been held by Burma's oldest ethnic rebel group, the Karen National Union, has resulted in a humanitarian crisis. Over 20,000 Karen villagers have fled their homes due to the military onslaught that began nine months ago. Nearly half of them have sought refuge on the Thai side of the Thai-Burma border, say humanitarian groups. Others, including the wounded, malnourished children and women, are waiting to cross over. In June, just as the monsoon broke, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the military regime is officially known, received another warning from the International Labor Organization (ILO) to bring changes to its notorious forced labor record. Myanmar, as Burma is now called, may face economic sanctions and could even be taken to the International Court of Justice if it ignores the warning. However, the plight of prisoners forced into slave-like labor conditions was not included in this international campaign to end forced labor of civilians. The latter, most of whom are villagers, are forced by the army to build roads, bridges, build army camps and cultivate land grabbed by the military. "Forced labor is still a problem, it still continues and is a serious issue that has to be addressed," Richard Horsey, ILO's representative in Rangoon, said in an interview. "That is the way to dent the sense of impunity that the perpetrators of forced labor enjoy." At the same time, the ILO "cannot endorse an alternative to the use of villagers for portering, which is equally bad in terms of the treatment they receive," he said, in reference to the use of prisoners for forced labor. "It is a violation of basic human rights." The ill treatment of prisoners in Burma is not limited to convicts forced to serve as porters for the army. The suffering is equally bad in the 50-odd labor camps and 43 prisons spread across this Southeast Asian nation, says a ranking member of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a group of former political prisoners championing the rights of prisoners in Burma. "In some labor camps the prisoners have been beaten to death after falling down, exhausted from over work," AAPP's Bo Kyi told IPS. "The prisoners are not given medical care if they work in the quarries and get malaria. They die." Convicts forced to work as porters for the military are still to receive international sympathy, states the KHRG report. It fears that "there is a danger that the SPDC's use of convict porters may be viewed internationally as a legitimate alternative to the forced conscription of villagers for portering duty."