The Burmese regime keeps one of the largest armies in the world and the largest number of child soldiers. More than 70.000 recruits are children, 12 - 17 years old. The soldiers are mostly underpaid, so they are more likely to turn violent against civilians. Harassment, forced corruption and pillaging are frequent. Drugs, especially amphetamines, are commonly given to the soldiers to make them more aggressive.

The targets of the Tadmadaw, the Burmese army, are the soldiers' compatriots: the ethnic groups of the Mon, Karen, Shan, Karenni, Rhakine and Chin, to name but a few. All these groups have their own cultures and traditions, customs and languages and are striving to keep a certain amount of autonomy.

Ambush right on the border

The members of these ethnic groups are constantly the target of the army's violent reprisals. They suffer persecution and forced relocation, their villages are frequently pillaged. People are arbitrarily arrested, beaten and shot without a trial. Girls and women are kidnapped, raped and killed. Schools and hospitals are closed or burned down. Crops are seized by the soldiers, leaving the farmers to starvation. Large areas are being contaminated with land mines, claiming innumerable victims.

So the people flee into the hardly accessible jungle areas in the border regions of Thailand, China and India/Bangladesh and put up provisional settlements. But even there they are not safe. The troops of the regime are frequently raiding the settlements. They loot and pillage, rape and kill. The refugees are sometimes warned by their own soldiers to escape the raids and manage to flee into the jungle. But when they return, they find only destruction and despair: their settlements have been burned down, their few belongings have been stolen and their rice fields have been contaminated by land mines.

What once was home

There are no schools in these settlements and there is hardly any medical care. People often die of malnutrition or of minor illnesses, which could easily be cured, if there was any medicine available. Many die from the injuries they have suffered in battle.

If the people cannot flee from their persecutors, they fall victim to brutal violence and murder. The areas, where the refugees live, are designated "free fire zones" - a cynical term of the regime, which means that nobody will ever be held responsible for the murder and mistreatment of the refugees. They are treated like animals and can be shot down without a reason.

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Global Report 05: Displacement in Burma created world's worst IDP situation ( 66 KByte)