Shocking Burmese abuse allegations

Thursday, 23 June 2005 12:00 AM

A new report claims that the Burmese regime is engaged in shocking acts of human rights abuse and genocide.

Human rights activist Guy Horton spent five years carrying out undercover research in the largely closed country to produce the report.

He says he personally witnessed - and has video evidence to prove - villages being burnt down, the mass slaughter of animals and "numerous" people being murdered.

The 600-page report also documents rape of children as young as five, slave labour, the conscription of child soldiers, massacres and the destruction of villages.

Villagers have given statements that babies were thrown on to a fire during one raid.

Mr Horton hopes the report, funded by UK human rights groups and the Dutch government, will form the basis of a legal case to bring the military leaders in Burma before the international criminal court on charges of genocide.

The charge is based on the fact that three minority groups, the Karen, Karenni, and Shan, have been the principle victims of the abuses, according to Mr Horton.

It is estimated that the military regime has been responsible for 10,000 deaths every year since it seized power in 1988.

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