Report Shows 82,000 Displaced in Burma in Past Year

27 October 2006 (VOA) - A new report estimates that 82,000 people have been displaced over the past year in Burma as a result of what the study calls human rights abuses and atrocities by the government.

The report was released today by the non-governmental organization, Thailand Burma Border Consortium. The group says Burma's northern Karen state and eastern Pegu Division are the most severely affected areas, with more than 27,000 people displaced due to counter-insurgency operations.

The study says 232 villages have been destroyed, forcibly relocated or abandoned in the past year. It says such actions over the past 10 years have displaced more than a million people.

The group says the study illustrates that Burma's military government - known as the State Peace and Development Council - is the primary perpetrator of these human rights abuses and is violating its obligations under international humanitarian law.