Hiding

The attacks on villages along the Shwegyin River highlighted here are not isolated events. Over the past 30 years many villages throughout Karen State have faced similar attacks and violations of fundamental human rights. As a result, thousands of villagers have adopted a life of impermanence and flight in the forests where they hope to live beyond Burma Army control and repression. Some estimates place the displaced population as high as 110,000 for Karen State alone. Some Karen villagers have been quoted to assert that they must flee from place to place on a daily basis: "The SPDC came and oppressed us, so our villagers had to flee and stay in the jungle. … We don't have any food anymore. … We are sick and it causes problem for us. … We can have a hill field, but we can only make a small hill field. When they [SPDC] come here they disturb us and destroy our things so we can't make our hill field very well. This is a big problem for us. We have to stay in the jungle and we don't have a house to stay in. We have to flee and stay like the birds and the chickens. We have to move our place every day." Quotation by “Saw A’ La Chit” from K--- village, Toungoo District in: Karen Human Rights Group, Enduring Hunger and Repression: Food Scarcity, Internal Displacement, and the Continued Use of Forced Labour in Toungoo District. September 27th 2004. Thailand: KHRG: 72