After interviewing 100 refugees from a dozen ethnic minority groups who fled to Thailand to escape alleged persecution, Amnesty concluded that people from ethnic minorities, especially the Shan, Mon and Karen, often could not maintain a subsistence lifestyle.
The Burmese junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Restoration Council and has ruled the country with an iron grip for four decades, rejected the report as a feeble attempt to discredit the regime.
Amnesty said that the people at greatest risk were those living in areas that are home to armed ethnically-based groups.
Three of these, the Shan State Army (SSA), the Karen National Union and the Karenni National Progressive party, are fighting against the military junta. Numerous other peoples, notably the Wa, are fighting alongside the Burmese army.
"Those living in areas where ethnically-based armed groups operated were most likely to be subjected to forced labour, forcible relocation, torture, and extrajudicial killings by the tatmadaw [the Burmese military]," the report said. "Some of them also suffered from abuses committed by these armed opposition groups."
One Shan villager is quoted describing the torture of a friend, Aye Seng, soon after which he died. "[He] was beaten for five nights," the villager says. "When he came back his nose and eyes were dripping with blood from head injuries. They submerged him in water. They accused him of giving rice to the SSA _ but he didn't even have enough rice for himself. He had no treatment - he dared not go into town."
In a brief and terse statement the Burmese government strongly refuted the allegations. "It is quite natural for these armed terrorist groups to come up with ridiculous assertions in order for them to gain sympathy and financial support," it said.
Amnesty acknowledged that in some ways the human rights situation in Burma was improving. It welcomed the release of more than 300 political prisoners over the last 18 months, including the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest, the establishment of an International Labour Organisation liaison office in the capital, Rangoon, and the junta's recognition that change is necessary.
But it stressed that much still needed to be done - particularly the prosecution of members of the security forces who violated human rights, in order to end a prevailing climate of impunity.
Heavy fighting is currently raging in several areas along the Thai-Burmese border, where Thailand accuses Burma of participating in inter-ethnic fighting.
