Inter Press Service (IPS)
APRIL 2006 (IPS) - A recent visit by ASEAN parliamentarians to a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border provided a searing glimpse of a country devastated by violence and repression, writes Son Chhay, a member of the Parliament of Cambodia and an active member of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus and other pro-democracy networks in Asia.
Military offensives, forced labour, forced relocation, extra-judicial killing, and torture by Burma's military government have driven many hundreds of thousands of Burmese into neighbouring countries as well as into the myriad refugee camps that line the country's borders.
Forced labour and forced relocation have been perpetrated to allow military control over economic activity. Systematic sexual violence by military personnel targeting ethnic nationality women is rife and has been widely documented. Moreover, children as young as eleven are often forcibly taken from their homes for military duty in the Tatmadaw, the Burmese army.
Military offensives, forced labour, forced relocation, extra-judicial killing, and torture by Burma's military government have driven many hundreds of thousands of Burmese into neighbouring countries as well as into the myriad refugee camps that line the country's borders.
Forced labour and forced relocation have been perpetrated to allow military control over economic activity. Systematic sexual violence by military personnel targeting ethnic nationality women is rife and has been widely documented. Moreover, children as young as eleven are often forcibly taken from their homes for military duty in the Tatmadaw, the Burmese army.
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