The Role of the United States of America in Supporting Peacebuilding and Upholding Human Rights in Burma

Karen Organization of the United States of America (KOUSA) | November 11, 2016

Statement on recent armed conflict and human rights abuses in Karen State, Burma

On behalf of the Karen Organization of the United States of America (KOUSA), we draw your attention to the ongoing armed conflict in our homeland of Karen State, Burma. For decades, the Karen have suffered gross human rights violations at the hands of the Burma Army including destruction of villages, arbitrary killings of civilians, torture, the use of landmines, rape, and forced labor. In 2014, a report by Harvard Law School concluded that several of Burma’s generals could be guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their actions against ethnic civilians.¹ As a result of these atrocities, hundreds of thousands of our people have been forced to flee and hide in the jungle or settle as refugees in other countries. About 64,759 Karen refugees have settled in the U.S. Furthermore, we urgently draw your attention to the current escalation of fighting in Karen State, which began on August 30 and threatens to break down the ceasefire and reignite the civil war in Karen areas.

Since the fighting began, the Burma Army and its allied Border Guard Force (BGF) have carried out numerous attacks against a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), a local Karen militia, in an attempt to expand Burmese military control over Karen territory. These attacks have included the use of heavy artillery and mortars fired by the Burma Army. As always, the fighting has heavily impacted local villagers:

• Over 5,000 villagers have been forced to flee their homes, leaving nearly all their possessions behind.²
• At least one villager has died due to a landmine.³
• Burmese soldiers and allied BGF militia have seized villagers’ livestock and property, leaving many people destitute and without support.⁴
• The Burma Army and BGF have hindered Karen civil society organizations and aid groups’ efforts to provide food, medicine, and clothing to displaced villagers.⁵
• According to a number of reports, the Burma Army and BGF have seized villagers for forced labor and used others as human shields during the fighting.⁶
• The Burma Army and BGF have built additional military camps, forcibly relocating villagers from these areas.⁷
• The establishment of Burmese military posts prevents displaced people from returning home. This also casts further doubt on the possibility of return for tens of thousands of refugees who have been living in refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border for over 20 years.

The current fighting, and abuses of civilian villagers, closely resembles similar events that occurred in October 2014 in the same area. First-hand reporting during conflicts uncovered similar abuses of locals by the Burma Army and associated militias, including the looting of homes, confiscation of property, and forced labor.⁸ The ongoing reality faced by ethnic peoples such as the Karen belies the appearance of reforms, democracy, and human rights that Burma projects to the rest of the world. Efforts towards national reconciliation continue to be hampered by the Burmese military, which maintains its grip on power in Burma despite the election of the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led Government in 2015. Given the Burma Army’s ongoing hostilities in non-Burman ethnic areas, it is disturbing that the military remains without civilian oversight, with no accountability to the civilian government, and with the constitutionally-guaranteed option of seizing full control of the country once again in a “national emergency.”

There is strong evidence linking the current conflicts in Karen State, as elsewhere in Burma, to large-scale infrastructure and resource development projects. According to local Karen military leaders, recent hostilities are part of the Burmese military’s plans to seize the area near the site of the proposed Hatgyi Dam in Karen territory, a project that local villagers as well as Karen military leaders strongly oppose.⁹ Please see the attached information brief from Karen Rivers Watch for more details regarding the recent fighting and its connection to the proposed dam project.

In fact, control over land and natural resources is one of the key grievances that has provoked over six decades of civil war in Burma. The Burma Army is now trying to wrest away the last remaining lands occupied by the Karen people, in order to construct large-scale development projects and crush all opposition once and for all. For the freedom-loving peoples of the Karen Mountain, this proposition is unacceptable. If the Burma Army and its associated militias continue to advance, there will be further bloodshed and human suffering.

Recommendations to the Government of the United States of America

In light of current and ongoing military aggression by the Burma Army against non-Burman ethnic peoples in Burma, we, the Karen Organization of the United States of America, urge the Government of the United States of America to:

1. Put pressure on the Burmese government and military to withdraw their troops from Karen State

We urge the United States to use its influence in bilateral relations and international fora, such as the United Nations, to put pressure on the Burmese government and military to withdraw their troops and begin demilitarization of ethnic areas such as Karen State. There has been a ceasefire in Karen State for over 4 years. During that time, Karen communities, civil society, and the Karen National Union (KNU) have repeatedly requested the Burmese military to withdraw its troops from civilian areas in order to facilitate the return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). To date, the military has refused to withdraw a single military camp; instead, the military continues to reinforce these camps and extend its militarized occupation of our homelands.

2. Refrain from military cooperation with Burma’s armed forces

We are worried about reports in Burmese state media suggesting the possibility of increased cooperation between the United States Government and Burmese military forces, which surfaced following a meeting between outgoing US President Barack Obama and Burma State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.¹⁰ We remind the United States that the Burmese military is guilty of rampant human rights abuses in ethnic areas including rape, destruction of civilian villages, extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced labor. There are few signs that the Burmese military has reformed, as it continues to carry out violent attacks on ethnic resistance forces, not only in Karen areas, but also in ethnic Kachin, Shan, and Ta’ang territories as well.

The Burma Army continues to be a threat and obstacle to peace, security, human rights, and the achievement of decentralized federal governance in Burma. The cooperation between the United States and Burmese military forces would risk delegitimizing the United States as a force for positive change in Burma, and would in fact make the United States implicit in legitimizing the Burmese military’s ongoing seizure and occupation of our homelands. This is not the way to support peace building or human security in Burma.

3. Continue to support ethnic civil society as agents of democratic change in Burma

The importance of continuing to support ethnic civil society organizations in Burma cannot be overemphasized. These organizations have long provided humanitarian relief and capacity-building necessary for democratic political development even under a repressive military dictatorship and repeated attacks by the Burmese military. During the current conflict and displacement, Karen humanitarian groups such as KORD (Karen Organization for Relief and Development), CIDKP (Committee for Internally Displaced Karen), KRC (Karen Refugee Committee), and KWO (Karen Women’s Organization) have been instrumental in delivering humanitarian aid to displaced villagers in areas that larger international organizations cannot reach.

We gratefully acknowledge the United States Government’s ongoing support for ethnic civil society through its bilateral development projects.¹¹ In particular, we would like to thank the United States Government for its support for ethnic civil society organizations providing humanitarian assistance and building human capacity for decentralized, community-based governance in Burma’s ethnic areas.

We hope that the United States will continue to support ethnic civil society as a critical player in all discussions involving democratic reform, decentralization, and federalism in Burma. In a country such as Burma, it is crucial not to privilege national institutions in the reform process, to the exclusion of ethnic civil society. In ethnic areas such as Karen State, civil society and community-based organizations enjoy far more social legitimacy with local people than do institutions of the national government.

4. Maintain key sanctions targeting the Burma Army and military crony companies

We do not agree with the recent decision of the United States to lift key remaining sanctions on Burma, a decision also decried by other advocates for human rights in Burma.¹² In the current situation, any activities that benefit the Burmese military and its business cronies facilitate further oppression of ethnic peoples such as the Karen.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD Government recognized the importance of retaining key sanctions when they voted last August not to challenge the then-existing US sanctions regime. A senior official in the government stated that “there’s no reason to discuss