spdc hrv

one of my friends just told me this crazy story today.

last week she went to myawaddy to see a friend of hers. they stayed with her friend's sister whose husband is in the army. they are very poor and live on a base in the forest.

everyday there is an announcement over a loudspeaker that calls all of the soldier's wives to get up very early in the morning and report to the office. the recording tells them that if they are late, they will be in serious trouble. all day the women must do manual labor. sometimes they must look after highranking officer's wives if they are sick and tend their children. a few times a week they are forced to attend military training where they learn combat skills. earlier this month they made the women compete in compulsary games against other battalion's wives.

the women are not allowed to leave the base, and their husbands are not allowed to leave the army after their original contracted term of duty; they are now told they must serve until they are 60 years old. they all have an agreement that they will not leave, because they've been told the entire base will be punished.

the women are scared they will be forced to fight, which seems like a pretty reasonable fear. why else would they spend time and resources training them? they are also scared since the new rumors are that they will start training the children next. they feel stuck and afraid and voiceless, even though they want to speak out.

my friend is also afraid to make a report about what she saw. i told her that since she saw these things first-hand, she could tell people who document human rights abuses. she will be resettled sometime in the near future, and i asked her to consider doing it a few days before she leaves.