Contamination and Impact

Mines

Landmines are a major threat in some areas of eastern Myanmar. Based on available information, mines are believed to be concentrated on its borders with Bangladesh and Thailand, and in eastern parts of the country as a result of post-independence struggles for autonomy by ethnic minorities. Some 33 townships in Chin, Kachin, Karen (Kayin), Karenni (Kayah), Mon, Rakhine, and Shan states, as well as in Pegu (Bago) and Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) divisions[1] suffer from some degree of mine contamination, primarily from antipersonnel mines. Karen (Kayin) state and Pegu (Bago) division are suspected to contain the heaviest mine contamination and have the highest number of recorded victims.

No estimate exists of the extent of contamination, but Landmine Monitor identified suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) in the following townships through early 2009: every township in Karenni (Kayah) state: Bawlakhe, Demoso, Hpasawng, Hpruso, Loikaw, Mese, Shadaw; every township in Karen (Kayin) state: Hlaingbwe, Hpa-an, Hpapun, Kawkareik, Kyain Seikgyi, Myawaddy and Thandaung; Momauk township of Kachin state; Thanbyuzayat, Thaton, and Ye townships in Mon state; Kyaukkyi, Shwekyin and Tantabin townships in Pegu (Bago) division; Maungdaw township in Rakhine state; Hsihseng, Langkho, Mongpan, Mawkmai, Namhsan and Tachileik townships in Shan state; and Bokpyin, Dawei, Tanintharyi, Thayetchaung and Yebyu townships of Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) division. Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor has subsequently identified previously unknown SHAs in townships on the Indian border of Chin state.[2]

Cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war

Myanmar is also affected by explosive remnants of war (ERW), including mortars, grenades, artillery and ordnance used in World War II, but no information is available on the extent or location of such contamination.[3] There have been no reports of cluster munition remnants.

Mine Action Program

Despite a significant mine threat, Myanmar has no humanitarian mine action program although there were more positive signs in early 2010. In late 2009, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) created a landmines sub-group of its protection working group.[4]

The Ministry for Progress of the Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs is said to have informed the UN that it is aware of a mine problem in the country and has asked for specific proposals regarding risk education (RE). The sub-group on landmines will focus on creating an RE program and identify gaps in medical and rehabilitation provision for survivors and fill them. The group is also exploring whether it will be feasible to begin humanitarian mine clearance in any area of the country.[5]

Mine clearance in 2009

Sporadic military and village demining have been reported over the past few years. In early 2009, the Free Burma Rangers (FBR),[6] provided Landmine Monitor with photographs of soldiers using probes to manually clear a path between two military camps in Hpapun township in January 2009.[7]

In February 2010, the FBR reported undertaking mine clearance in villages near the border of Kyaukkyi and Hpapun townships, removing a small number of minimum-metal M14 antipersonnel mines on up to eight occasions each year.[8] The FBR include a course on mine identification and emergency clearance procedures for their relief teams. Mines encountered on their missions have either been removed by FBR personnel, who turn them over to anti-junta militia, or are removed by militia members.[9]

“Atrocity demining”[10]

In March 2010, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar described “reports that civilians are forced by the military to clear brush in suspected mined areas or to serve as porters for the military in areas where there is a mine hazard. According to sources, civilians have been ordered to remove mines without training or protective equipment or to repair fences of mined areas, which have caused serious casualties.”[11]

On one occasion during December 2009, villagers from Gamndoe, Hoki, Khupyang, Khupyangdoe, and Thaeki in Thandaung township are said to have been obliged to walk in front of troops to clear the road between Thandaung and Baw Ga Li. This is said to have been a requirement of these villages annually for the past few years.[12]

In February 2010, a villager from the area near Baw Ga Li explained to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor how they cleared mines when ordered by the military to do so. They said they took a five-foot-long piece of bamboo and fastened two curved metal tines (a series of projecting sharp points) to the end of the pole and use it to scratch the ground until wires were exposed, they then cut one of the wires, lifted the device and pitched it to the side of the road. They said they learned this method from watching soldiers do it.[13]

In December 2009, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) laid antipersonnel mines in Thandaung township on a road between Tatmadaw (government army camps) at Kaw They Der (near the junction of Taungoo-Mawchi and Taungoo-Busakee roads) and to the east at Tha Eh Hta. The KNLA warned villagers in the area that if forced to porter for the military they should refuse to do so unless the military walked in front. In late December, villagers from Gkaw Ko Koh, Gkaw Thay Der, Ler Koh, Gklay Soh Kee, and Wa Thoh Koh were ordered to porter rations to the Tha Eh Hta camp, but refused to do so. The military then took them through the jungle on a little used track using them as shields against KNLA attack.[14]

The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) said it had received reports of the following incidents in 2009:

·         In early 2009, residents of southeast Hpapun township stated that they were forced to serve as porters and human minesweepers for army patrols.[15]

·         Several families of Htee Bper village, T’Moh village track, eastern Hlaingbwe township, told the KRHG in May 2009 the military had forced them to build their camps and fences, cut bamboo and tree posts, and carry rations, and that they fled because they were afraid of stepping on landmines.

·         On 4 September 2009, Tatmadaw soldiers from Light Infantry Battalions #60 and #351 entered Maw Bweh village, eastern Hlaingbwe township and seized four villagers and ordered them to clear landmines for the soldiers.

·         Two men who escaped to the KHRG said that they had been ordered to act as porters and clear mines by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in Myawaddy township in October 2009.

·         Between October 2009 and January 2010, residents of Baw Ga Li and the surrounding villages in Thandaung township reported that car and truck drivers were frequently ordered to drive ahead of military vehicles, in case the KNLA had laid landmines on the road.

·         In November 2009 villagers in Htwee Thee Auh, northern Hpapun township, were ordered by the commander of Light Infantry Battalion #541, Myo Maw Maw, to clear landmines, which led to the death of two villagers as a result of mine explosions.

Allegations of forced labor for mine clearance were also made against the DKBA by a Buddhist Karen resident of Poe Thweki village in southeast Hpapun township who said he was forced by the commander Pah Na De DKBA 666 and 999 units to lay landmines in the frontline with the DKBA soldiers for an unspecified period until he escaped in May 2009.[16]

Demining by non-state armed groups

Non-state armed groups (NSAGs) reportedly carry out ad hoc demining. A KHRG researcher accompanying a Karen National Defense Organization militia member in September 2009 observed him removing two mines laid directly in front of the primary school and another next to the path leading to the school in southern Hpapun township.[17]

The Chin National Front/Army (CNF/A) reported that after signing Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment it cleared and destroyed 1,600–1,800 mines from three areas, which it had previously planted along the border between Myanmar and India. The CNF/A gave details of the amount of stockpiled components (TNT, gelatin sticks, detonators, and bamboo casings) that it destroyed.[18]

Other Risk Reduction Measures

Mine/ERW RE is inadequate and often non-existent in areas with reported casualties. Limited activities are carried out in Karen (Kayin) state by the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People, in Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) division by the Karen Department of Health and Welfare, and in Karenni (Kayah) state by the Karenni Social Welfare and Development Centre.[19] The CNF/A has also reported conducting RE in areas where it operates.[20]

There are no government-run RE activities, although “beware mines” signs have been placed by authorities in some parts of the country.[21]

Backpack Health Worker Teams states that it provides RE through its general health education program but has not provided any figures of the number of beneficiaries or data on where they have provided it.[22]