Country: Myanmar

Group: Kaya/Padaung/Karenni

Date Finalized: 11/13/2020

Team: Vianney Mancilla (lead), Zeenat Hammond, Rebekah Kamer

Content Warning: forced labor, homicide, ethnocide

Approximate Time Period: 1962-present

            There is a significant amount of evidence indicating that the Karenni in Myanmar has been subjected to forced labor. As a result, the data quality is rated as a 3 due to the number of reputable sources supporting this phenomenon.

            In the constitution of the country of Burma, the Karenni were promised autonomy-this was never upheld (Minority Rights Group, 2017). On the contrary, according to Arianayagam, instances of forced labor against the Karenni occurred as early as 1962 under Burmese military rule (2013). The Burmese government and military officials targeted the Karenni because of their resistance to the new rule (Burmalink, 2014). Under the military rule which spanned March 1962 until March 2011, the Karenni were forced to perform forced labor in the timber industry, mining industry (specifically for rubies, jades. etc.), garment industry, plantation sector, tourism sector, and the oil and natural gas industry (Arianayagam, 2013). The harsh working conditions have resulted in fatigue and disease as well as death (Arianayagam, 2013). For example, in the early 1990s under the Tatmadaw (the Armed Forces of Myanmar), the Karenni were forced to work on the construction of the Loikaw-Aung Ban railway (Kramer et. al, 2018). The state media admits to subjecting over 300,000 Karenni to forced labor for this project (Kramer et. al, 2018). This project also took the lives of a “large number” of Karenni people; the Tatmadaw colonel’s response was, “Every day people are dying. It’s a normal thing” (Kramer et. al, 2018). Arianayagam argues that this is still an issue, however, the newly-elected civilian government has promised to end the practice of forced labor by 2015 (2013).

Sources

  1. Minority Rights Group (2017). Karenni. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/karenni/ on November 6, 2020
  2. Burmalink (2014). Karenni. Retrieved from http://www.burmalink.org/background/burma/ethnic-groups/karenni/ on November 6, 2020
  3. Kramer, T., Russell, O., Smith, M. (2018). From War to Peace in Kayah (Karenni) State. Transnational Institute, Amsterdam Retrieved from https://www.tni.org/en/publication/from-war-to-peace-in-kayah-karenni-state on November 6, 2020
  4. Arianayagam, S. M., & Sidhu, J. S. (2013). Modern Slavery: State-Induced Forced Labour in Myanmar (Burma) and Reactions from the International Community. Malaysian Journal of International Relations, 1(1), 80-97. doi:10.22452/mjir.vol1no1.6