The victim zone: Recent accounts of Burmese military human rights abuse in the shan state

Abstract

Burma's little-known frontier war is the context of six interviews with tribal people affected by the conflict. Burmese military abuse of ethnic minority civilians in the war zone includes forced labor, systematic looting, torture and destruction of tribal villages. American aid, intended to combat the Golden Triangle's opium production, has added to the tribes' persecution, as the Burmese military uses the herbicide 2,4-D (an Agent Orange ingredient) in saturation spraying of crops as part of counterinsurgency efforts.