Washington, Sept.29 : Analysis of high-resolution satellite images by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has revealed evidence of grave human rights violations in Myanmar, including destruction of villages, forced relocations, and a growing military presence at 25 sites across the eastern part of the military-junta-ruled country.

Research by this non-profit, non-partisan organization and the world's largest general scientific society offers clear physical evidence of specific instances of destruction, and this is believed to be the first demonstration of satellite image analysis to document human rights violations in Myanmar.

The AAAS had previously used the same technology to assess the destruction in Darfur and Zimbabwe. The latest research was supported by the Open Society Institute and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

AAAS researcher Lars Bromley, who obtained field descriptions of over 70 instances of human rights violations in Myanmar between the middle of 2006 and early 2007 in eastern Burma's Karen State and surrounding regions, said the documenting human rights violations posed special challenges.

The AAAS precisely mapped the locations of 31 of some 70 reported human rights violations by comparing field notes with information provided by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Satellite image analysis revealed physical evidence to corroborate reported instances of human rights violations at 25 of the 31 accurately mapped sites.

"Physical evidence of reported attacks on civilians sometimes can be subtle compared to the slash-and-burn types of destruction that we saw in Darfur or Zimbabwe," Bromley says.

Wherever possible, Bromley compared archival satellite images with newly acquired shots to examine sites before as well as after the reported military activity. In other cases, recent images revealed clear signs of destruction.

"Eighteen of the locations showed evidence consistent with destroyed or damaged villages," Bromley reported. "We found evidence of expanded military camps in four other locations as well as multiple possibly relocated villages, and we documented growth in one refugee camp on the Thai border. All of this was very consistent with reporting by multiple human rights groups on the ground in Burma."

A military-ruled state since 1962, Myanmar's junta continues to clash with the National League for Democracy, and has detained the group's elected leader -- the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi -- for nearly a dozen years now.

Earlier this year, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein joined U.S. First Lady Laura Bush in decrying human rights violations in Myanmar, describing it as "a land where 3,000 villages have been destroyed, 1,300 political prisoners are in jail, 70,000 child soldiers have been forcibly recruited, and over 500,000 people are internally displaced."

An estimated 90 percent of Burmese people live below or near the poverty level, subsisting on a dollar per day or less, according to Charles Petrie, the United Nations humanitarian chief in Burma.

The AAAS research is continuing, Bromley emphasized, and further study by other investigators would be ideal in order to rule out any possible alternate explanations for the removed or severely degraded villages. He encourages reporting organizations and other parties to engage in the image-analysis process.

AAAS Science and Human Rights Program Director Mona Younis explained. "The imaging initiative is an excellent example of how science and technology can be applied to help expose human rights violations.The Burma project is the latest in a 30-year effort by AAAS that has included documenting atrocities from Guatemala to Kosovo, while also working to promote basic human rights worldwide."

The images were provided by GeoEye, Inc and DigitalGlobe. (With inputs from ANI)