III. MethodologyThis report is based on research conducted by HRW in border areas of Burma, Thailand and China, between July and September 2007. During the course of the investigation, Human Rights Watch researchers conducted interviews with current and former soldiers, including 20 current or former Tatmadaw soldiers and officers and more than 30 current or former soldiers and officers with armed opposition groups. Interviews were also conducted with more than 12 senior officials of various armed opposition groups or their political parties. Human Rights Watch also interviewed health workers and other civilians living and/or working in regions of Burma where the Tatmadaw and non-state armed groups are active; representatives of several humanitarian organizations based in Thailand and Burma, including nongovernmental organizations; the United Nations resident coordinator for Burma and other representatives of UN bodies in Burma and Thailand including UNICEF, UNHCR, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); local human rights researchers in the Burma-Thailand border area; independent Burma analysts; and others. SPDC representatives were asked for information by letter and responded in writing, but declined to provide any of the information requested (see Appendix C). Of the 20 active duty and former Tatmadaw soldiers and officers interviewed, one had served in the navy (recruited at 18) and the remainder were serving or had served in the army. Army personnel included three command-level officers holding the rank of captain or major, one lieutenant, and five non-commissioned officers (four sergeants and one corporal), and ten privates. In total, 12 of the 19 in the army were recruited as children. All of them remained as privates during their entire time in the army except for the longest-serving, who eventually made corporal, and a second who was recruited into the Defense Services Academy at age 16. Of the 13 former Tatmadaw soldiers who were recruited as children, all but two were recruited between 2000 and 2006. At least three of them escaped the army while still children, only to be forcibly recruited a second time. Their length of army service ranged from several months to 13 years. Soldiers interviewed for this report originated from several states and divisions in Burma, and served in army units in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan, Karen, and Mon states, and Pegu, Rangoon, Tenasserim and Sagaing divisions. They underwent training at various military training camps located throughout the country. Most were then posted to infantry and light infantry battalions. Most escaped the army in 2005 and 2006. The non-state soldiers and officers interviewed are presently serving or have previously served in the Kachin Independence Army, Karen National Liberation Army, Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Karenni Army, Shan State Army–South, KNU-KNLA Peace Council, and the All-Burma Students’ Democratic Front. Only two, from the KNU-KNLA Peace Council, were judged by Human Rights Watch to be child soldiers. To supplement this information, interviews were conducted with health workers, community leaders, civilian witnesses, and humanitarian workers active in the areas where non-state armed groups operate. Most interviews lasted between one-and-a-half and three hours, with the assistance of independent translators selected by Human Rights Watch as required. Interviews were conducted in private, and interviewees were assured that their names would not be published. Each interviewee was asked detailed questions regarding their recruitment, training, and deployment, the ages and treatment of fellow soldiers with whom they served, and whatever they knew about policies within the groups they served. The names of all present and former soldiers quoted in this report have been changed. In some cases officials and spokespersons of armed opposition groups gave permission for their names to be used, and these have been included. Some opposition group and nongovernmental and intergovernmental agency representatives requested that they or their organizations not be identified, in order to protect themselves from reprisals by government and military authorities, so identifying information has been omitted accordingly. |