“When we’re hiding in the jungle, we’re in deep trouble…
“We don’t even dare to light a fire because we don’t know where the Burmese soldiers are.
“We don’t even dare to sleep freely. We don’t know what will happen to us tonight or tomorrow. Everyone has this worry in their mind.”
These words are by a Burmese ethnic minority woman who has been on the run for too long. They open this short video, Shoot On Sight (3 mins 42 secs), produced by the Bangkok-based human rights advocacy group Burma Issues.
The Burmese army’s brutal crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protesters in Rangoon has dominated the news in recent days. But in eastern Burma, a 45-year catastrophe has reached one of its worst moments, as the country’s military junta escalates its attacks against the area’s ethnic minorities.
The government’s efforts to assert control over ethnic border areas have emptied over 3,000 villages in a decade, an average of almost one village each day over the past ten years. The forces of Burma’s military junta, the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), are mortaring villages, looting and burning homes to the ground, and destroying crops in an effort to obliterate the livelihoods of rural communities.
Burmese soldiers are ordered to shoot civilians on sight.
Over 500,000 displaced people live in constant insecurity in eastern Burma, and over 30,000 more have been displaced because of this most recent offensive. Those who are captured by the Burmese army face forced labor, conscription, torture, rape and even execution. The rest are unable to return to their homes for fear of stepping on landmines laid after their escape. Instead, the displaced live in makeshift camps in the jungle, enduring some of the worst health conditions in any world crisis today.
As this crisis escalates, it threatens to destabilize not only Burma but the region at large. The increasing refugee exodus places a burden on neighboring states, and regional politicians are concerned that epidemics of HIV/AIDS and other diseases will spill over into their own communities.
The above analysis comes from Witness, the global human rights advocacy organisation that uses moving images as its main campaigning tool.
New York-based Witness works with and through national organisations and local level activist groups who share its ideals. For 15 years, Witness has led the field in using digital video tools to capture human rights violations, and to use the video medium to raise awareness on safeguarding everyone’s basic human rights.
Witness partner Burma Issues is a private, non-profit organisation devoted to a peaceful resolution to Burma’s struggle for human rights. They operate from Bangkok, Thailand.
According to Burma Issues: “We work directly with the grassroots communities who we feel are the most oppressed and marginalized communities in Burma. These people have little opportunity for education, health care and adequate food supplies. We play what we believe is a very unique role in preparing these marginalized communities to voice their needs and opinions and to be ready to effectively participate in the emergence of a new society.”
They add: “We focus specifically on the tasks of movement building, grassroots education and community organizing. We also act as an information center and campaign for peace. Our activities therefore, are defined by three categories: Grassroots Organizing; Information for Action; and Campaigns for Peace.”
Witness resources and links on Burma human rights issues – including what you can do
More about Burma Issues campaigns and materials
Find out about other videos produced by Burma Issues on human rights struggles in Burma
Watch another Burma Issues video, Always on the Run: (5 mins, 36 secs):
