U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1999 - Myanmar

More than 238,000 Burmese refugees were in neighboring countries in 1998: 140,000 in Thailand, 40,000 in India, 53,000 in Bangladesh, 5,100 in Malaysia, and an unknown number in China. About 350,000 Burmese lived in refugee-like circumstances in Thailand. Many may have fled Burma because they feared persecution.

An estimated 500,000 to one million Burmese were internally displaced. Although a general lack of access and information made this number difficult to verify, a May 1998 USCR site visit to Burma confirmed that internal displacement is a significant crisis there.

Political Developments and Human Rights

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and its army, the tatmadaw, seized power in 1988 when they crushed the democracy movement and jailed most of the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party that had been democratically elected to rule Burma. Among those jailed was Nobel Peace Price winner Aung San Suu Kyi. In 1997, SLORC renamed itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

SLORC/SPDC has particularly targeted the country's ethnic minorities. The government recognizes 67 tribal groups in addition to the Burman majority, classifying them into seven "national races": Shan, Mon, Karen (Kayin), Karenni (Kayah), Chin, Kachin, and Rakhine (which includes the Muslim minority known as Rohingya). Together the minorities comprise about a third of Burma's population. The country is divided into seven states, one for each of the "national races," and seven divisions where Burmans are in the majority. Most of the ethnic minorities live in mountainous areas along Burma's borders with Thailand, Laos, China, Tibet, India, and Bangladesh.

Many of Burma's ethnic groups have fought for independence, or at least greater autonomy, even prior to Burma's 1948 independence from Britain. They have continued their struggle for autonomy despite SLORC/SPDC cease-fires and truces with as many as 16 armed ethnic minority groups. As of the end of 1998, only the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the largest of the ethnic organizations, had not yet agreed to a cease-fire. The 1995 cease-fire with the Karenni National Progressive Party fell apart after only three months.

The ethnic groups have also struggled with internal strife that has wracked the insurgent movement. Most notably, in 1994 Karen Buddhists split from the Christian-led KNU to form the Democratic Karen Buddhist Association (DKBA). The DKBA aligned with SLORC/SPDC and has launched cross-border attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand. In March 1998, DKBA forces crossed into Thailand repeatedly, burning down two camps and firing mortars at another. In response, the KNU launched counter attacks inside Burma. Burmese officials denied an alliance with the DKBA, calling them an "illegal organization" and suggesting that Thailand execute ethnic rebels who attack refugee camps.

Despite its cease-fire agreements with the ethnic minorities, the Burmese military in 1998 continued its pattern of forced labor, summary executions, forced relocations, and other human rights abuses in ethnic minority areas.

Burmese military offensives continued to drive refugees into Thailand almost daily. Although most were first-time refugees, others had been in Thai camps and returned to Burma to assess conditions.

Despite increased international attention to Burma in 1998, little changed on the ground. The SLORC/SPDC promised to move toward democracy but took no concrete steps toward that goal. It promised to renew dialogue with the NLD but continued to arrest and detain its members. The military began mass arrests in May and increased them in September in an effort to block the NLD from carrying out a threat to convene parliament on its own, a threat that materialized with the September 16 formation of the "Committee Representing the People's Parliament."

After the mass arrests, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson issued a statement deploring the "intensifying wave of repression" in Burma and urged the SLORC/SPDC "to undertake a process of reconciliation with the opposition and cooperate fully with the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations."

In November, the UN Special Rapporteur on Burma for the Commission on Human Rights, Justice Rajsoomer Lallah, noted in a report that Burmese authorities continued to forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of persons of non-Burmese origin. "They had two choices – flee to neighboring countries or move to military relocation camps," he noted.

In August, the International Labor Organization (ILO) concluded that abundant evidence existed that Burmese authorities and the military had imposed forced labor on the civilian population throughout the country for portering, construction, maintenance and servicing of military camps, and other work in support of the armed forces. The ILO noted that punishments such as physical abuse, beatings, torture, rape, and murder were meted out when anyone did not submit to the demand for labor.

Burma responded that the special rapporteur's report was completely biased and that UN-sponsored investigations and resolutions on human rights in Burma represented a blatant attempt to interfere in its internal affairs.

In December, the UN General Assembly issued another resolution deploring the human rights situation in Burma.

Internal Displacement

Recent estimates of internal displacement in Burma have ranged from 500,000 to 4.5 million. The UN Secretary General, in a 1994 note, said about one million Burmese were displaced between 1988 and 1994. A more recent report of the UN special rapporteur noted estimates of more than 600,000 displaced persons in Karen, Karenni, Shan, and Mon states alone.

Ethnic minorities, most of whom are rural people, constitute most of Burma's internally displaced. However, significant numbers of Burmese are also displaced from cities or villages. Most displacement results from the military's twin strategies of forced labor and forced relocation.

While Burma's denial of access to displaced persons hinders efforts to assess their conditions, various reports by ethnic groups and NGOs have shed light on the situation.

As of April 1998, about 480,000 Karen, or 30 percent of the rural Karen population of eastern Burma, were either internally displaced or refugees, mostly the former. Burmese army troops prevent villagers from returning to their homes – homes that may no longer exist because of the army's strategy of burning fields and villages.

Between March 1996 and April 1998, the military ordered more than 300,000 people in Shan State to move to relocation sites covering 7,000 square miles. Many villagers were forced to relocate more than once. During this period, more than 80,000 Shan fled to Thailand.

In other parts of Burma, such as Chin State and Mon State, displacement has resulted less from forced relocation than from expanded military control and the accompanying forced labor, extortion, confiscation of land, religious persecution, and what many view as an attempt to "Burmanize" the country. Although displacement figures are difficult to estimate, the tens of thousands of refugees from those areas indicate the scope of the problem.

The internally displaced generally fall into two categories. The first are those under control of the military regime, having been forcibly relocated from cities or villages to satellite towns or "relocation centers." Typically, a family or village receives a notice to relocate, often within 24 hours. At times, people are moved at gunpoint.

The military's primary motive for the relocation is the "four cuts" strategy, designed to prevent aid to opposition forces by cutting four crucial links – food, finances, communications, and recruits. The strategy also ensures a steady supply of laborers for the army and for major development projects.

When a group is forced to create a new village or is added to an existing one, food becomes a scarce commodity. Many Burmese must beg or forage for food.

The second group of displaced are those who refuse to relocate, or who cannot survive in the relocation areas and choose to flee. They generally flee toward the Thai border but often cannot cross because of Burmese troops or Thai border guards. They become stranded in the mountains and in the jungle, with little or no food or medical care.

Although some UN humanitarian agencies and NGOs were present in Burma during 1998, they operated in a climate of suspicion that limited their ability to serve internally displaced persons.

Repatriation from Bangladesh

An estimated 50,000 ethnic Rohingya refugees from Burma remained in Bangladesh at the end of 1998. The Rohingyas, who are Muslim, fled human rights abuses by the Burmese military, including killings, forced labor, rape, and religious persecution.

About 250,000 Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh during 1991 1992. More than 212,000 returned to Burma under a controversial UNHCR supported repatriation program during 1992-1995, which USCR and many other observers did not consider truly voluntary. At the end of 1998, fewer than 22,000 of the original refugees remained in Bangladesh, most of them living in two camps. According to UNHCR, Burma had cleared about 7,000 of them for repatriation by year's end.

During 1997-1998, almost 30,000 new Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. Bangladesh did not recognize them as refugees.

Some 106 Rohingya refugees repatriated from Bangladesh with UNHCR assistance in 1998. According to UNHCR, there were no forced returns. The repatriations began in late November under UNHCR supervision.

The returning refugees received cash grants, travel allowances, and materials from UNHCR, along with six months' food rations from the World Food Program. The Myanmar Red Cross Society provided services for vulnerable persons. The Burmese government provided no assistance.