AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights

Burma - Conflict in Karen State
Case Study Report

Shwegyin District Image Analysis

In February of 2009, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium provided AAAS SHR with a shapefile containing the coordinates of nearly one hundred sites that its reporters believe may have been attacked between August of 2007 and July of 2008. While most of these reports concerned Karen state and other areas nearer to the border with Thailand, nearly a dozen also concerned Shwegyin district, located in southern Pegu state near the Karen border. These reports were lent further legitimacy by information furnished by the Free Burma Rangers, who had been operating on the ground in the area, and reported that the village of Kaw La Sein had been attacked on March 8, 2008.

AAAS SHR acquired contemporary as well as archival imagery of the areas reported by both groups, each of which revealed evidence that could corroborate their claims of attacks and displacement. The coordinates provided by the Free Burma Rangers were very accurate, and revealed the total destruction of what had once appeared to be a small fishing village. The TBBC coordinates were more ambiguous, however there was at least one instance where a settlement appeared to have been abandoned.

Shwegyin District Sites

Image One: Removed Village




Before Image: 09-Dec-2003. © 2009 GeoEye. After Image: 25-Feb-2009. © 2009 DigitalGlobe.

The top image depicts the village of Kaw La Sein at the end of 2003. The bottom image depicts the same location in February of 2009. The footpaths are the only sign that a settlement once existed; all structures in the original settlement have been removed. According to the Free Burma Rangers, this site was attacked on the eighth of March, 2008. (Lat: 17.82, Lon: 97.03)



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