Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma’s border security force - Nasaka has been using forced labour of local villagers for renovation of a road since February 2. The road connects Maungdaw Town to Bassara village, said a local trader.

Every day, 15 to 20 villagers from every village in Nasaka area No.7 of Maungdaw Township have to send villagers to the site for road renovation. They have to go in the morning with their own food and return after sun set. No wages are paid by Nasaka.

Villagers not complying with the order will be fined Kyat 2,000 by the Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC).  

The road is being repaired for Nasaka officers to enable them to visit their camps comfortably by car, said a local youth.

In northern Arakan, villagers are engaged in forced labour for road construction, forced labour for barbed wire fence construction on the Burma-Bangladesh borer, forced labour for Natala    (model) villages, forced labour for  paddy plantation of the army or Nasaka, forced labour for growing vegetables for army or Sarapa (Military Intelligence), and forced labour  in military or Nasaka or Sarapa camps though the junta had declared earlier that  there is no forced labour in the country, said a local elder.

In north Arakan, local or foreign journalists are not allowed to see the forced labour situation. When foreign delegates visit Arakan, they are not allowed to talk freely to the villagers. The foreigners are only allowed to meet villagers in front of security personnel briefed by the authority, said a school teacher preferring not to be named.     

Although international bodies pressurize Burma on human rights violations, the Burmese military junta ignores it and increases forced labour.