Today, Human Rights Watch urged the UN Security Council to place Burma on its agenda in accordance with its April 28, 2006 resolution, "On Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict," which affirms a collective responsibility of all U.N. members to protect civilian populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity when their governments do not provide that protection.
In November the Burmese army, or Tatmadaw, began its largest offensive in the western and northern parts of Karen state since 1997. Burmese troops have looted and burned homes and planted anti-personnel landmines in civilian areas to terrorize the local population. In some cases, villagers have reportedly been ordered by battalion commanders to leave their homes or face summary execution. Fleeing villagers have reported witnessing soldiers commit extrajudicial killings and torture. They have also reported that men, women and children have been forcibly conscripted to work either as army porters or as unpaid laborers.
Government troops are continuing sweeping operations in Mon township, Nyaunglebin district. Army infantry battalions 241 and 242 are reportedly leading efforts to chase some 2,000 displaced Karen villagers. Those displaced are at particular risk due to the heavy rains caused by Cyclone Mala, which has made living conditions difficult. Many villagers are reportedly sick with malaria and dysentery. Karen villagers in Toungoo district - who were earlier forced to go to relocation sites, or faced execution - reported that they now have no shelter there and are living under trees in the rain.
According to humanitarian agencies, 4,000 people have been displaced in Mon township; 2,000 in Shwey Gyin and Kyauk Kyi townships combined; and more than 2,000 in Toungoo district. While more than 1,000 people have fled to the Salween River to seek refuge in Thailand, the Burmese army has reportedly laid more than 2,000 anti-personnel mines in a north-south line to stop further civilian movement from the mountains to the plains. This was allegedly done in order to block escape routes and deny the civilian population access to food supplies, commodities, and other humanitarian assistance.
The Burmese army is responsible for horrific abuses not only against the Karen, but also against other ethnic minority groups. Last May, Human Rights Watch reported that entire villages in Shan state were burned down when Burmese government troops, backed by forces of the United Wa State Army, implemented a counter-insurgency strategy against the Shan State Army, an anti-government armed group. Government forces and the United Wa State Army have regularly targeted civilians by forcing whole villages to relocate. There are reports that they have also singled out young Shan men for execution and torture, and have raped Shan women and girls.
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