Norwegian Refugee Council blames SPDC for the plights of IDP of Burma

DVB ( 17 November 2003 )

A recent report of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says that the internally displaced people (IDP) of Burma are exposed to ongoing violence and systematic human rights abuses at the hands of the SPDC troops, and they are without protection from either their government or the international humanitarian community.

The report added that the IDP’s traditional livelihoods are ruined and humanitarian assistance to them are blocked by the SPDC army.

There are estimated 600,000 to one million IDP along Burma’s eastern border with Thailand and the Karen, Karenni and Shan ethnic groups are the main victims.

Arbitrary executions, torture, and other human rights abuses are regularly committed by the military. Women are particularly at risk, as rape is increasingly used by the army as a tool to create fear and punish civilians in the conflict areas.

Humanitarian conditions are worrying, particularly for those in the jungle, where basic foraging for food is constrained by the presence of SPDC troops, according to the report.

Meanwhile, local SPDC troops are forcing the remaining villagers to denounce the armed rebel group KNPP (Karenni National Progressive Party) so that they would not support the rebels’ opposition to the regime’s so-called road map plan.