Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07RANGOON357
2007-04-11 06:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:
BURMESE VILLAGERS SUCCESSFULLY RESIST FORCED LABOR
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C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000357
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EAP/MLS;
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2016
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PGOV SMIG KCRM BM
SUBJECT: BURMESE VILLAGERS SUCCESSFULLY RESIST FORCED LABOR
Classified By: Econoff TLManlowe for Reason 1.4 (b,d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000357
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EAP/MLS;
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2016
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PGOV SMIG KCRM BM
SUBJECT: BURMESE VILLAGERS SUCCESSFULLY RESIST FORCED LABOR
Classified By: Econoff TLManlowe for Reason 1.4 (b,d)
1. (C) Summary. Two recent incidents in Burma demonstrated
the effectiveness of raising awareness about individual
rights in Trafficking in Persons (TIP) cases. According to
Save the Children (STC),villagers in Karen State and Shan
State who had received STC training took action to save
forcibly recruited Burmese citizens, including children, from
military press gangs. End summary.
2. (C) Save the Children is one of the few international NGOs
that work on TIP issues in Burma. STC Program Manager Guy
Cave told econoff about two recent episodes in which Burmese
citizens from villages served by STC training programs took
action to save forcibly recruited victims. The first case
occurred in October 2006, when the Burmese military allegedly
drugged a 12-year old boy from Rangoon and abducted him to
serve at a base in Karen State. The boy was forced to
perform manual labor there without compensation. Cave
believed the army planned to keep the boy at the base until
he became older and then would forcibly enlist him into
military service. One day, the boy walked out of the base
gate, ostensibly to perform an errand. Outside the military
perimeter he met a man from a village where STC had conducted
training on trafficking and the Rights of the Child. The man
brought the boy to his village, where a community-based
organization cared for him before turning him over to STC,
who traced his family and returned him to Rangoon.
3. (C) In the second case, also in late 2006, ten Burmese
males, including three under 18 years of age, ran into an
army patrol while crossing the border into Shan State after
completing work in China. When the men could not produce
identification cards, the soldiers took them back to their
base and threatened to enlist them. The group tried
unsuccessfully to convince the soldiers to release the under
age youths. One man subsequently escaped to his home
village, which had also received STC training. A group of
villagers, including the Village Peace and Development
Council Chairman, went to the base and demanded the release
of the villagers. Initially the soldiers refused, but the
villagers, using the information they received from STC on
individual rights, persisted. After a couple days, the
soldiers released all the detained men. In neither case did
authorities take any retaliatory action against the villages.
4. (C) Cave noted that STC does not report such incidents
publicly, as they feel that doing so would jeopardize their
ability to work in rural areas. They asked that we not
publicize this information. He wanted, however, to inform us
that STC's work, and that of other INGOs in Burma,
effectively increased the ability of individuals to stand up
for their rights and better resist the clutches of forced
labor.
VILLAROSA
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EAP/MLS;
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2016
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PGOV SMIG KCRM BM
SUBJECT: BURMESE VILLAGERS SUCCESSFULLY RESIST FORCED LABOR
Classified By: Econoff TLManlowe for Reason 1.4 (b,d)
1. (C) Summary. Two recent incidents in Burma demonstrated
the effectiveness of raising awareness about individual
rights in Trafficking in Persons (TIP) cases. According to
Save the Children (STC),villagers in Karen State and Shan
State who had received STC training took action to save
forcibly recruited Burmese citizens, including children, from
military press gangs. End summary.
2. (C) Save the Children is one of the few international NGOs
that work on TIP issues in Burma. STC Program Manager Guy
Cave told econoff about two recent episodes in which Burmese
citizens from villages served by STC training programs took
action to save forcibly recruited victims. The first case
occurred in October 2006, when the Burmese military allegedly
drugged a 12-year old boy from Rangoon and abducted him to
serve at a base in Karen State. The boy was forced to
perform manual labor there without compensation. Cave
believed the army planned to keep the boy at the base until
he became older and then would forcibly enlist him into
military service. One day, the boy walked out of the base
gate, ostensibly to perform an errand. Outside the military
perimeter he met a man from a village where STC had conducted
training on trafficking and the Rights of the Child. The man
brought the boy to his village, where a community-based
organization cared for him before turning him over to STC,
who traced his family and returned him to Rangoon.
3. (C) In the second case, also in late 2006, ten Burmese
males, including three under 18 years of age, ran into an
army patrol while crossing the border into Shan State after
completing work in China. When the men could not produce
identification cards, the soldiers took them back to their
base and threatened to enlist them. The group tried
unsuccessfully to convince the soldiers to release the under
age youths. One man subsequently escaped to his home
village, which had also received STC training. A group of
villagers, including the Village Peace and Development
Council Chairman, went to the base and demanded the release
of the villagers. Initially the soldiers refused, but the
villagers, using the information they received from STC on
individual rights, persisted. After a couple days, the
soldiers released all the detained men. In neither case did
authorities take any retaliatory action against the villages.
4. (C) Cave noted that STC does not report such incidents
publicly, as they feel that doing so would jeopardize their
ability to work in rural areas. They asked that we not
publicize this information. He wanted, however, to inform us
that STC's work, and that of other INGOs in Burma,
effectively increased the ability of individuals to stand up
for their rights and better resist the clutches of forced
labor.
VILLAROSA