Photographs of Karen victims of an army massacre carried out on April 26, 2002 were smuggled out of the country recently and delivered into the hands of the press. The massacre, which occurred only ten days before the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, occurred when Burmese troops discovered some 30 or 40 villagers sleeping in two huts in the jungle near Htee Ler Baw village en route to Thailand. After their villages had been forcibly relocated, the villagers had fled, fearing that they would be pressed into service as army porters. The soldiers opened fire on the huts, immediately killing ten civilians, including six children. A pregnant woman and her child died later on.
United States Congressman Joseph Pitts made a statement to Congress on July 26th that the photos “provide incontrovertible evidence of the State Peace and Development Council's (SPDC) horrifying human rights abuses and crimes against humanity as they continue their attempt to subjugate the entire country through whatever means they see necessary.” Congressman Pitts is a member of the International Relations Committee.
The massacre is only the most recent in a long list of atrocities committed by the Burmese military regime, dominated by the Burman ethnic group, against various indigenous groups in Burma. In May, the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) released a report which accused the Burmese army of condoning rape as a weapon of war and which detailed more than 600 cases of rape and sexual assault committed in the Shan State over a six-year period. The Burmese government in Rangoon has also been accused of using forced labor, and a number of corporations have pulled their operations out of the country as a result. On June 11, 2002, the California Superior Court ruled that the U.S.-based oil firm Unocal must stand trial for human rights abuses in connection with its oil pipeline in Burma.
Since independence in 1948, Burma has been engaged in a lengthy civil war against several indigenous ethnic groups seeking either independence or autonomy from the Burmese state. Matters have only been complicated by Burma’s strained relations with neighboring Thailand and the flourishing drug trade.
Karen civilians, whose homeland abuts Thailand, typically seek asylum there, as their population has traditionally lived on both sides of the Thai-Burmese border. Known for their colorful traditional clothes, the Karen number about 14 million, and are traditionally farmers. They practice animism and Buddhism, with a sizeable Christian minority.
