BANGKOK – About half a million people are internally displaced by conflict in eastern Myanmar, where both the state army and rebels continue to recruit child soldiers, a top rights group said on Monday.
Human Rights Watch, in its annual report, said the state army was responsible for direct attacks and abuses against civilians in conflict areas, some of which have been wracked by civil war since independence in 1948. Among the abuses listed were widespread forced labour, extrajudicial killings, forced expulsion of the population, the widespread use of anti-personnel landmines and sexual violence against women and girls.
The group also listed torture, beatings and the targeting of food production as well as confiscation of land and property in the ethnic areas where fighting continues. The report comes as Myanmar, military ruled since 1962, prepares to open a new parliament this month following an election in November, which was slammed by the West as a sham aimed at shoring up military power.
“The Burmese military continues to direct attacks on civilians in ethnic areas, particularly in Karen, Karenni, and Shan states of eastern Burma, and parts of western Burma in China and Arakan states,” the report said. It said about 500,000 were internally displaced owing to conflict in the east, while more than 140,000 refugees are in camps in Thailand.
