Akha villagers in Northern Laos testified on video that Norwegian Church Aid staff coming to their villages to do various projects had demanded village girls to rape on repeated occasions. Staff often stayed for weeks at a time in villages while doing projects. Akha villagers said that the practice was widespread on the part of numerous NGO’s in the Muang Long area. Akha villagers gave the names of many villages where the rapes occurred and the names of specific girls who had been raped and became pregnant.
Girls ranged in age from 15 to 17.
(The Akha make up nearly 80% of the population of Muang Long District. )
Staff demanded on ALL occasions that the Akha villagers feed them, including the killing of valuable animals, for meat. As many as ten staff members demanding meat on a daily basis placed a huge burden on the village food supply. Villages which had already been forced to relocate, were devestated with disease and starvation, could only do their best to comply and not say anything such that they would be singled out.
Numerous villagers stated that NCA staff threatened to hit the girls if they didn’t come to their huts and provide sex. Afterwards they offered the girls a small sum of money to “make things ok”. A number of girls got pregnant and had to find someone to marry them to help take care of the child. Girls would return home, hide themselves from their parents and other villagers and cry.
Norwegian Church Aid staff implied that they would pull out of the village and not complete the projects if the girls they picked for sex were not given to them immediately. The practice was described as widespread throughout villages that NCA worked with in Muang Long District.
NCA had also been the fierce hand of opium eradication and forced relocations in the region, receiving funding from UNDCP now UNODC.
Villagers stated that NCA forced them to move to locations and told them to grow terrace rice when there was no cleared land for the rice, and not sufficient water. NCA offered to jury rig water supplies but within a short time these water supply systems were broken and no water was available so the rice only died.
Villagers stated that the areas that NCA told them to grow rice in had massive stumps, making it impossible to farm the rice easily, and that with primitive tools one could not thresh the terrace soil in a mud condition with water buffalo as it is normally done. If the soil is not made into mud and leveled while full of water, then the water will not supply evenly to all the rice.
Village food supply was reduced from a full year to less than five months. Villagers were forced to travel by foot long distances to find day work on various projects. Villagers had to sell all their livestock to buy food, and then fell on further poverty. Some villages stated that of a population of 350, 85 people died in the first year after they moved.
NCA also withheld payment of rice, after having Akha villagers build roads or do other projects, leaving their own work behind. When the contract work was done, the villagers got only a small portion of rice. Villagers stated that the bulk of the rice the NCA office in Muang Long had for payment was sold to the Chinese for a profit.
Two villages were shorted 40 tons of rice for one large project that they worked on for more than a month.
Village headmen told how they were unable to stop the rapes in their villages, girls who tried to run away were told by NCA staff that they would be beaten if they did not comply. Village men were unable to oppose the NCA staff for fear of retribution against the village.
Villagers were afraid that NCA staff would transmit HIV to the village girls, which is already a great hazard in the region due to truck drivers buying sex along the road while moving products between Thailand and China.
The video and audio reports have been taken to Europe for consideration of pressing criminal charges.
NCA staff in Muang Long threatened journalists making the documentation.
Could you name the journalists/media outlets reporting this? Or the jurisdiction in which criminal charges are being filed?
Have you contacted Earthrights or The International Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Tropical Forests?
Both are based in Thailand. They should be told about this. I will look for more info on the Norwegian group.
Take it from me: this Norwegian “group” is a highly respectable and professional organization which works all over the world. Note the complete lack of sourcing here for these allegations, which are part of a slander campaign of that this individual — aka “Akha Drug War,” “Norwegian Mafia” and assorted aliases — for some reason wages on various message board including this one and the European Tribune.
I hadn’t seen he/r on ET, but Google turned up a very long diary s/he posted on dkos containing rhetoric similar to that of a certain “Akha Heritage Foundation“.
At first glance (I don’t have a world of time right now) they seem to be advocating allowing the indigenous Akhi people to sell opium. Their ire against NCA might stem from their support for an alternative development project in an opium-growing region (link).
Excellent detective work! I suspected something quite like that.
AZ, I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to follow consider the links posted elsewhere on this thread, but if you think they have merit, might you consider withdrawing your recommendation of this diary?
I happen to know the person that wrote this. You can read about him in my diary Here
He has video interviews with the people in the villages that are making these accusations. He may come off a bit harsh, but there is no ulterior motive to what he is doing. Yes, he is angry and frustrated, but who wouldn’t be having been at the front lines and seeing the suffering and death first-hand for so long, while the aid groups and NGO’s ride around in their big SUV’s, eat and drink beer at the nice restaurants and make a nice living. His diaries are written quickly because he is broke and has to pay for internet time.
Maybe the Norwegian church group is “reputable”, I don’t know, but these allegations should be investigated. As far as GTZ being reputable, that can and is being debated amongst indigenous peoples organizations who have experience working with them.
Things are not always as they seem. Unfortunately, church groups have a long history of abusing people all over the world.
So I won’t be withdrawing my recommend. His allegations seem far out to some, but they should take the time to look around at Akha.org
You can read about him Here
The Norwegian Church Aid is secular for all practical purposes. I’ve never had any problem supporting it as an anti-clerical atheist. As aid organizations go (and one may of course oppose them in general, as such) it’s cream of the crops.
The accusations in this entry seem, as you say yourself, far out. They certainly require supporting evidence no matter who this diarist is — and based on previous entries he comes across as someone with an axe to grind.
the supporting evidence is filmed testimony from the villagers. The allegations should be investigated.
You are some piece of work.
Previous entries by this disgraceful character include this one, where the Norwegian Church Aid and named individuals are accused of genocide-scale mass murder of children — without any evidence whatsoever. Check out his diary page for more of the same. What drives him seems to be indignation at the destruction of opium poppies.
Yep, that’s pretty bad.
BTW, the publicly-funded German organization GTZ , also “referenced” in that diary, is another highly reputable organization.
That’s right.
As Sirocco has pointed out, this user, with multiple aliases, has posted scurrilous accusations on a number of occasions.
Never mind that he’s flamed people asking for links with supporting information.
Indeed. Worst of all though are the named persons accused of heinous crimes. If I were BooMan, I would consider revoking someone’s posting privileges.