Publisher's Synopsis
"For decades the Burmese army has forced civilians to risk life and limb serving as porters in barbaric conditions during military operations against rebel armed groups. Among those taken to do this often deadly work, for indefinite periods and without compensation, are common criminals serving time in Burma's prisons and labor camps. Based on 58 interviews with convict porter survivors who escaped the Burmese army in 2010 and 2011, this report details the harsh treatment prisoners are forced to endure on military operations. Escaped convict porters described how the authorities selected them in a seemingly random fashion from prison and transferred them to army units fighting ethnic armed groups on the front lines. Soldiers force them to carry huge loads of supplies and munitions in mountainous terrain, giving them little food and no medical care. Often they are used as 'human shields, ' put in front of columns of troops facing ambush
