Evidence of Forced Labour in Burma

Khonumthung News Group | 18 August 2005.

[ZayYa]

Military authorities in Chin state, Burma, have reportedly engaged 10 students at Malar primary school in Malar village to transpor army rations.

On July 15, Sergeant Tin Soe along with his five companies from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 304 station in Matupi town forcibly made the underage students carry army rations to Lailenpi from Malar village in Matupi Township, according to a Village Council (VC) member (name withheld) currently visiting Mizoram state in India.

The relay transportation of rations from Sabongte military camp by the villagers along Sabawngte and Malar came to a halt because there were no villagers to relay the rations to the next village. Malar villagers were reportedly out working in their distant fields, which sometimes requires them to stay there for weeks during the hectic work season.

The VC member elaborated further, adding that the sergeant immediately summoned the village head of Malar village and slapped him twice for failure to make earlier preparations and failing to provide porters.

The sergeant demanded 10 students and five government employees to transport the rations despite the village head”s request to wait for villagers to return from their fields.

The students were exhausted halfway, as their loads were unbearably heavy for them. Five villagers from Lailenpi, returning from Mizoram, came to their rescue, sympathizing and helping them carry the rations.

The students and government employees were made to carry 10 bags of rice, 20 bottles of edible oil, 15 kilograms of Fish paste, 15 kilograms of salt and 7 and a half kilograms of pepper between Malar and Lailenpi village, a distance of about 12 miles.

SPDC authorities in Chin state often engage students in transporting army rations for tea plantations and road construction, etc,. which badly affects their study.