Tenure insecurity in Burma (including land grabbing)

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Description: This website contains mainly news reports about the global rush to buy up or lease farmlands abroad as a strategy to secure basic food supplies or simply for profit. Its purpose is to serve as a resource for those monitoring or researching the issue, particularly social activists, non-government organisations and journalists. The site, known as farmlandgrab.org, is updated daily, with all posts entered according to their original publication date. If you want to track updates in real time, please subscribe to the RSS feed. If you prefer a weekly email, with the titles of all materials posted in the last week, subscribe to the email service. This site was originally set up by GRAIN as a collection of online materials used in the research behind "Seized: The 2008 land grab for food and financial security, a report we issued in October 2008". GRAIN is small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for food sovereignty. We see the current land grab trend as a serious threat to local communities, for reasons outlined in our initial report. farmlandgrab.org is an open project. Although currently maintained by GRAIN, anyone can join in posting materials or developing the site further. Please feel free to upload your own contributions. (Only the lightest editorial oversight will apply. Postings considered off-topic or other are available here.) Or use the ?comments? box under any post to speak up. Just be aware that this site is strictly educational and non-commercial. And if you would like to get more directly involved, please send an email to [email protected]. If you find this website useful, please consider helping us cover the costs of the work that goes into it. You can do this by going to GRAIN?s website and making a donation, no matter how small. We really appreciate the support, and are glad if people who get something out of it can also help participate in what it takes to produce and improve outputs like farmlandgrab.org. If you would like to help out, please click here. Thanks in advance!
Source/publisher: Farmlandgrab.org
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Several articles on land grabbing in Burma/Myanmar
Source/publisher: farmlandgrab.org
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Link to an OBL sub-section
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2011-11-12
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Articles on this category from BurmaNet News (2004-2016)
Source/publisher: BurmaNet News
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-01
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Link to an OBL sub-section
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-12
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: "Land disputes between farmers and the Burma Army in northern Shan State has been going on for decades. Villagers in Kyaukme Gyi have been trying to get back thousands of acres they say the Army (aka Tatmadaw) stole from them in 2000. Farmers started cultivating these fields again in 2017. The Tatmadaw responded by opening criminal cases against them. “The Army has charged us for various offences (over the years),” Eh Naw, a farmer told SHAN. “A police officer told us the Army recently opened a new case against 13 farmers.” “We’re being charged for plowing our fields…we can’t continue working our farms because we need to attend court hearings.” Kham, also a farmer from Kyaukme Gyi, said after their land was seized they no longer have a regular income and struggle to survive and send their children to school. Three members of her family have been charged for cultivating their confiscated farms..."
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Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2019-11-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "DS has just published a major 184-page legal report on the land grabbing in Myanmar and how these processes constitute internationally wrongful acts. The report includes a 21-step legal roadmap to end land grabbing once and for in Myanmar, a nation that is one of the worst in the world in Although the general power of States to compulsorily acquire, expropriate or otherwise confiscate or ‘grab’ land, homes and properties is legislatively recognised in virtually all national legal systems, to be lawful these processes generally carry with them five fundamental pre-conditions. Namely, when housing, land or property rights are revoked or limited through these processes, this can only be carried out when the taking concerned is: 1) subject to law and due process; 2) subject to the general principles of international law; 3) in the interest of society and not for the benefit of another private party; 4) proportionate, reasonable and subject to a fair balance test between the cost and the aim sought; and 5) subject to the provision of just and satisfactory compensation..."
Source/publisher: "Displacement Solutions" (Switzerland) via Reliefweb
2019-10-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 1.59 MB (184 pages)
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Description: "Residents of central Myanmar's Mandalay region said Thursday that they are increasingly fearful of forced property and farmland confiscations in areas slated for the construction of a high-speed railway running from Kunming in southwestern China to their city under the massive Belt and Road Initiative. Two state-owned companies — Myanmar Railways and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd. — signed a memorandum of understanding a year ago to conduct a feasibility study for a stretch of longer railway from Mandalay to Muse in Myanmar's northern Shan state. The overall project is a key part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) under the BRI, and is expected to boost trade between the two countries. The CMEC entails a central road and rail transport infrastructure from southwestern China’s Yunnan province through Muse and Mandalay to the town of Khaukphyu in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, where a major seaport and special economic zone are slated for construction. Area villagers who attended a public forum on an environmental assessment of railway project in Mandalay’s Patheingyi township voiced concerns over losing their homes and farmland to the rail line to be built by both China and Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The Myanmar government has tightened a law on so-called 'vacant, fallow and virgin' land, and farmers are at risk.
Description: "Han Win Naung is besieged on his own land. Last September, local administrators in Myanmar's southern Tanintharyi region put up a sign at the edge of his 5.7-hectare farm that read "Under Management Ownership - Do Not Trespass". They felled the trees and started building a drug rehabilitation facility and an agriculture training school on opposite ends of his plot. He was eventually informed that the administrators were challenging his claim to the land and had filed charges against him under a controversial law that could see him jailed for three years. "I didn't know what this law was," the 37-year-old farmer told Al Jazeera. "I didn't understand what was happening to us. They also asked us to move. We don't have anywhere else to go." Han Win Naung is accused of violating the Vacant, Fellow and Virgin (VFV) Lands Management Law which requires anyone living on land categorised as "vacant, fallow, and virgin" to apply for a permit to continue using it for the next 30 years..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-04-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Kye Zu Daw village is located along the banks of the Heinzel River in Ye Phyu Township, Tanintharyi Region in Southeast Myanmar. The village of approximately 53 households has a long history of displacement and dispossession. Forced to flee from their lands during the civil war, large swathes of their lands have now been enveloped by Protected Areas and agribusiness concessions during their absence. Today, villagers are squeezed between land grabs by private companies for oil palm and rubber plantations on one side, and the Tanintharyi Nature Reserve on the other, leaving them with limited livelihood options and forcing them to struggle to provide for their families. Forced to leave their village as IDPs and refugees in 1992 during the civil war, villagers from Kye Zu Daw returned to their ancestral lands in 2012 to find their lands had been confiscated. Faced with few options, in 2016 Kye Zu Daw villagers decided that they would start the process of trying to register their lands, which had been categorised as VFV by the government. Despite their attempts to legally recover and register their lands, villagers have faced consistent barriers. They have been sued over three times by agribusiness companies, faced abuse and intimidation from the Department of Land Management and Statistics (DALMS), and being forced to compete with companies on an unequal playing field to register their lands under a legal framework that does not reflect how land is used by communities in Myanmar and strips them of their customary and communal land rights. As a result of the consistent hardship and discrimination faced by Kye Zu Daw villagers in recovering their lands, many have given up hope, some even considering returning to the border.....ဆုတ်လည်းစူး၊ စားလည်းရူး ပြည်တော်ပြန် စစ်ပြေးဒုက္ခသည်များ မြေယာအတည်တကျ အခြေချနေထိုင်ရေး ရုန်းကန်နေရမှု (ရေးဖြူမြို့နယ်)..."
Source/publisher: "Progressive Voice" via Tanintharyi Friends
2019-08-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf
Size: 1.57 MB 1.51 MB
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Description: "A 5,000-acre tract of farmland confiscated by the government has sat unused in Tanintharyi Region for almost 15 years. More than 1,000 farmers were evicted from the land in 2004 to make room for urban development, but although the project was never completed, local farmers are still not allowed to return to their fields. This week Doh Athan partners with Dawei Watch to report on an old battle to win back the confiscated land..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" via Dohathan
2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: A Commentary by TNI on the Right to Land of People Displaced by War and Militarization
Description: "Displaced people in Myanmar have been suffering layer upon layer of injustice over the past decades. Today the situation is as bad as ever. “In Myanmar, people are suffering from the fighting, while the government is also trying to manipulate and divide the displaced people. Some people go back, some remain in the IDP camps. It’s like a hell in the country.” (Internally Displaced Person (IDP) meeting, 13 August 2019, Myitkyina) This is how one IDP, displaced since 2011, recently described the current situation in the north of the country. In both the north and the east of Myanmar, displaced people have been suffering layer upon layer of injustice over the past decades. Today the situation is as bad as ever. Ongoing conflict, militarization and business-oriented mega-projects continue to drive fresh displacements, while keeping those displaced previously from returning to their homes, farms, forests and villages. Since 2010, a raft of national laws and policies has been enacted regarding land, forests, conservation and investment. They do not, however, reflect the needs or the rights of people who have been displaced. There is currently no law that properly addresses the terrible situation confronting displaced people by recognising the right of IDPs and refugees to restitution based on their right to land. Instead, current government policy seems to be encouraging re-allocation of the lands of IDPs and refugees to business interests. Key areas include agriculture, mining, industry, infrastructure and even ecotourism, whether in the pristine islands in the far south or the majestic mountains in the far north......၂၀၁၆ ခုနှစ်မှစ၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အနယ်နယ်အရပ်ရပ်မှ ပြည်တွင်းနေရပ်စွန့်ခွာ စစ်ဘေးတိမ်းရှောင်ခဲ့သူများနှင့် စစ်ဘေးဒုက္ခသည်များအပြင်၎င်းတို့ကိုအနီးကပ်ပံ့ပိုးကူညီပေးလျက်ရှိသည့်နယ်ခံအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ အတူတကွ စုစည်း၍ ၎င်းတို့၏ နေရပ်ပြန်ရေးနှင့် မူလရပိုင်ခွင့်ပြန်လည်ရရှိရေးဆိုင်ရာ မြေယာကိစ္စရပ်များကို အတူတကွ ဆွေးနွေးအဖြေရာ၍ စည်းရုံးရေးဆိုမည့်လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်တစ်ရပ်ကိုဝိုင်းဝန်ဖော်ဆောင်လာခဲ့ကြပါသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသည် ဆယ်စုနှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ စစ်ပွဲဒဏ်သင့်လာခဲ့သည့် နိုင်ငံတစ်ခု၏ ရလဒ်အနေဖြင့် တိုင်းရင်း သားရပ်ရွာအသိုက်အဝန်းပေါင်းများစွာ မူရင်းရပ်ရွာဒေသများကို စွန့်ခွာထွက်ပြေးခဲ့ကြရပြီး မိမိတို့၏ မြေယာ ပိုင်ဆိုင်ခွင့်အပါအဝင် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအားလုံးနီးပါး ထိခိုက်နစ်နာခဲ့ရသည်။ မြေယာပိုင်ဆိုင်ခွင့်အခွင့်အရေးကို အနှစ်သာရရှိရှိဖြင့် အပြည့်အဝအသိအမှတ်ပြုမှုအပါအဝင်IDPs နှင့် Refugees များအတွက်တရားမျှတမှုရှာ ဖွေရာ၌ စိန်ခေါ်မှုအခက်အခဲများစွာ ကြုံတွေ့ရလျက်ရှိသည်။ ဤကဲ့သို့သော စိန်ခေါ်မှုအခက်အခဲများကြောင့် ကချင်၊ ကရင်နီ၊ ကရင်၊ မွန်နှင့် ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်(၅)ခုမှ ပြည်တွင်းနေရပ်စွန့်ခွာ စစ်ဘေးတိမ်းရှောင်သူများနှင့် စစ်ဘေးဒုက္ခသည်များအပါအဝင်၎င်းတို့ကို ကူညီထောက်ပံ့ပေးလျက်ရှိသည့် ပြည်တွင်းအရပ်ဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်း များမှ ကိုယ်စားလှယ်များသည်အထူးသဖြင့်IDPs နှင့် Refugees များ၏ မြေယာရပိုင်ခွင့်အခွင့်အရေးနှင့် ပတ် သက်၍ ကြုံတွေ့ရလျက်ရှိသည့် စိန်ခေါ်မှုအခက်အခဲများနှင့် အတွေ့အကြုံများကို အစဉ်တစိုက်ဆွေးနွေးအဖြေ ရှာလာခဲ့ကြပြီး လာမည့်အနာဂတ်၌ မဟာဗျူဟာကျကျ တုန့်ပြန်ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်မည့် နည်းလမ်းများကို ဆွေးနွေး ဖော်ထုတ်၍ ၂၀၁၉ ခုနှစ် သြဂုန်လ ၂၁ ရက်နေ့၌ ဤသဘောထားကြောညာစာတမ်းကိုထုတ်ပြန်လိုက်ခြင်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "TNI"
2019-08-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 172.8 KB 299.19 KB
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Description: "Thaton District: Land Confiscation by the Super World Company in Bilin Township, October 2018..."
Creator/author: KHRG
Source/publisher: Karen Human Right Group
2019-04-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Inadequate land laws have opened rural Myanmar to rampant land grabbing by unscrupulous, well-connected businessmen who anticipate a boom in agricultural and property investment. If unchecked, the gathering trend has the potential to undermine the country’s broad reform process and impede long-term economic progress. Under the former military regime, land grabbing became a common and largely uncontested practice. Government bodies, particularly military units, were able to seize large tracts of farmland, usually without compensation. While some of the land was used for the expansion of military bases, new government offices or infrastructure projects, much of it was used either by military units for their own commercial purposes or sold to private companies. The threat of military force meant there was little grass roots opposition to these land seizures and few avenues to secure adequate compensation. That’s changed under the new democratic order as local communities band together to fight back against seizure of their lands. Many of the current land disputes date to the period before the 2010 general elections that ushered in President Thein Sein’s reformist quasi-civilian government. The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation’s Department of Agricultural Planning reported in January 2010 that 216 companies had received a total of 1.75 million acres (708,200 hectares) of farmland in the form of state concessions. Many of the disputes now being contested are related to land taken in the mid- to late-1990s. A significant proportion of the land grabbing during this period took place in ethnic-majority states in the country’s peripheral regions. This was especially the case in areas along the border with China in Kachin and Shan States and along the border with Thailand in the Karen and Mon States. The army has maintained a strong presence in these areas to battle ethnic insurgencies and uphold tenuous ceasefires with other insurgent organizations. Much of the land was taken for military camps and military access roads, but also for commercial projects either run by the military or companies with ties to the military. Significant land grabbing also took place in the Sagaing and Irrawaddy Divisions. The confiscation of land has been repeatedly documented since the 1990s by human-rights groups such as the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), and Earth Rights International (ERI), as well as numerous smaller grassroots organizations. With new hope for an economic revival and rising property prices sparked by Thein Sein’s reformist government, land grabbing has continued in many of these areas and has also increased in central Myanmar and in Rakhine State in the west of the country. Current land grabbing is forcing farmers off their land for commercial agri-business ventures, infrastructure projects, tourism development, industrial facilities and gas pipelines. Political and economic reforms, together with relaxed sanctions and a better relationship with the West, have raised expectations of a foreign investment-led economic boom. The government has actively encouraged more investment in agriculture, one of the country’s more laggard economic sectors, by promoting the country’s former role as the « rice bowl of Asia » and highlighting its potential for commercial agriculture..."
Creator/author: Brian McCartan
Source/publisher: SOUTHERN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS NEWSWIRE
2013-03-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Myanmar should move quickly to settle decades-old claims by farmers forced from their land by the country’s military, a rights group said on Tuesday, adding that the country’s new civilian-led government has largely failed in its pledges to provide justice for those dispossessed. The government should also put new laws in place to protect farmers and other small landholders from further land grabs in the future, Human Rights Watch said in a report, “Nothing For Our Land: Impact of Land Confiscation on Farmers in Myanmar.” Those deprived of their land have been refused adequate compensation, cut off from the only work they know, and denied access to basic services such as health care, schooling, and education, HRW says in its 33-page report, prepared from interviews conducted with farmers, workers, and land-rights activists from October 2016 to March 2017. “Many farmers have [also] faced criminal prosecution for protesting the lack of redress and refusing to leave or cease work on the land that was taken from them,” HRW said in its report, which described the “devastating effects” of confiscations in Myanmar’s southern Shan state and Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions. “Once deprived of the ability to cultivate land and to sell crops, people are commonly forced into manual labor jobs that pay far less and ultimately diminish access to sources of food,” HRW said. “Widespread land confiscations across Myanmar have harmed rural communities in profound ways for decades,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch in a statement tied to the release of the report. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s government should promptly address illegal land confiscations, compensate aggrieved parties, and reform laws to protect people against future abuses,” Robertson said. 'They just took it' Government figures confirm that hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been taken over the last 30 years, though activists believe the true number of acres seized may be in the millions, HRW said in its report, adding that “confiscations often occurred with little or no compensation,” creating a “profoundly harmful” impact on those forced from their land. Confiscations often occurred with little or no warning given, HRW said. “I didn’t know, they just took it,” said one 61-year-old farmer in Ayeyarwady named Thein Win, who was forced to dig fish ponds on the land that was seized and was threatened with jail for complaining, according to the report. “We got nothing. We literally got nothing for our land,” Thein Win said. Meanwhile, in Shan state, Myanmar’s military seized thousands of acres in one village to create plots for military veterans to farm, forcing one family that remained to pay rent for five years on the land they had just lost. “When the land was taken from them, there was no offer to compensate and no other land was given to them,” HRW said. “After years of filing complaints to all levels of the government, they still have received nothing, and the military claims the right to retain ownership of the land..."
Creator/author: Richard Finney
Source/publisher: Radio Free Asia (RFA)
2018-07-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "... Community forests (CF) in northern Burma, particularly in Kachin State, have been sprouting up in villages since the mid-2000s, spearheaded by national NGOs. The recent watershed of CF establishment follows several contingent foundational factors: greater political stability and government control in cease-fire zones; enhanced NGO capacity, access, and effectiveness in these areas; and most prominently the recent threat of agribusiness. This paper will critically examine (inter-)national NGO‟s assistance to rural farmers in formalizing collective forestland in cease-fire zones as a resistance strategy to land dispossession from military/state-backed agribusiness concessions. My overall argument is that while CF represents a legally-sanctioned, bottom-up resistance against land dispossession ? a rare phenomenon in a country such as Burma ? an unintended consequence is producing forms of contested state authority and power in cease-fire zones. For instances of post-war zones with continued contentious ethnic politics and contested state authority, as is the case in northern Burma, rebuilding state-society resource relations and institutions present new political and resource use and access challenges. Data presented here is part of a broader research agenda conducted since the early-2000s on resource politics in northern Burma, with qualitative analysis for this paper based upon interviews with CF user groups, participant observation at CF workshops, interviews with Burmese NGOs, and secondary materials. This research project is a work-in-progress, and all errors are of course of my own unintentional making. CF represents a refashioned collective property regime. This novel land management strategy does not represent any sort of customary arrangement; in fact Kachin are upland swidden farmers, not strictly forest-dwelling communities. This scenario then causes conflict in that the CF joint- management plans mirror state land classification schemes that firmly delineate between „forest. and „agriculture. land uses, unlike traditional land management (much like for other rural communities) that does not clearly separate forest from agriculture. CF falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Forestry (MoF), which enables the increasingly weak MoF to stake an institutional claim against the increasingly powerful Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MoAI). In addition to symbolizing emerging state institutional struggles in cease-fire zones, newly established CF are also altering local resource use and access by villagers planting state-favored, high-value timber trees, such as infamous Burmese teak, in former swiddens ? an act that uncomfortably brings colonial-dictated resource use practices into the present. Furthermore, only CF user groups can access forest products, with outsiders (non-CF members, even within the village) formally blocked from access, including for shifting cultivation. By farmers and NGOs attempting to block the expansion of large-scale agricultural plantations, they instead cultivate state authority and institutions, in this case the Forestry Department, state-recognized land management categories, and new state-governed farmers. This case study highlights the importance of seriously considering how development interventions cultivate new forms of authority and power ?perceived as both legitimate and illegitimate by different actors ? in post-war zones when devising collective action strategies. These same interventions also inculcate new environmental practices in farmers, shaping them into NGO-state subjects that contrast with their customary practices. In this case, NGOs assisting farmers in establishing state-authorized collective property in the form of CF does not respect customary land use, facilitates bringing in a villager-perceived illegitimate state, and is increasing food insecurity. The positives though ? which may or may not outweigh the negatives ? include stemming the tide of land dispossession by private companies and providing a potential platform for political mobilizing at the village level. An alternative strategy could be to push for legal recognition of customary land management, such as upland swidden cultivation, could potentially block rubber expansion while concomitantly strengthening food security, customary land use regimes, and traditional village power bases to challenge state centralization in these politically contested cease-fire ethnic areas..."
Creator/author: Kevin Woods
Source/publisher: CAPRi
2010-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 397.57 KB
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Description: Documents and analyses on land tenure in Burma/Myanmar..... "1.Reconcile legality and legitimacy through clear legal recognition of existing acknowledged rights, whatever their origin (customary or statutory) or nature (individual or collective, temporary or permanent). 2.Initiate widespread debate on the choice of society that the land policies will serve (and target), the opportunities for formalisation, how it will be implemented and its possible alternatives. 3.Build consensus between all the actors concerned (central and local governments, local people, the land administration, professionals in the sector), and sustain the political will needed to implement formalisation procedures. 4.Define a realistic implementation strategy which recognises the vital importance of establishing effective and transparent governance and/or administration of land rights. 5.Progressive implementation that leaves room for learning, experimentation and adjustment. 6.Ensure from the outset that the land services will be financially viable, and put in place mechanisms to fund them."
Creator/author: Celine Allaverdian
Source/publisher: GRET (Groupe de Recherche et d?Echanges Technologiques)
2016-02-11
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 541.79 KB 1.11 MB
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Description: Forestry Water Management, Landscape Approach and Land Management in Kachin State, northern Myanmar.
Source/publisher: CGIAR
2015-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : mp3
Size: 13.62 MB
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Description: Outline of a Pilot Approach towards Cadastral Registration of Customary Communal Land Tenure in Myanmar....."...The objectives of the study were to identify legal ways using the Farmland Law 2012 and Association Law 2014 to protect through land registration the untitled agricultural uplands, including the fallows of upland shifting cultivation that are possessed by ethnic nationalities that manage their lands under customary communal tenure. The risk of possible alienation of the fallows through agribusiness concessions posed by the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law, 2012 (VFV) spurred the study. Customary communal rights in Myanmar are enforceable by customary law in areas, where no outside interference takes place. In the future it may be given a legal backing in statutory law, if the intentions of the draft Land Use Policy of mid 2015 are operationalised ensuring equity in access to land and protection of upland cultures and livelihood. Customary land management of rotating fallow agriculture or shifting cultivation constitutes land management at the landscape level. It secures preservation of cultural identity and in most places it establishes access rights of all resident villagers to shares of the land and leaves no one landless. Rotational fallow management is an institutionalized resource management technology at a species, ecosystem, and landscape level, ensuring ecological security and food security and providing a social safety net. Fallows are important for wildlife and biodiversity, for production of non timber forest products, for watershed hydrology, and for carbon sequestration. Communal tenure can provide security of tenure as well as the institutional mechanisms for future sustainable land use planning and climate change mitigation initiatives. The study has focused on cultivated and fallow land in the uplands. It did not include a study of customary communal tenure of forests and grazing lands. A customary land registration of these ecosystems so far would need to be pursued under different laws. The study has covered only the customary communal tenure of rotating fallow agriculture in Chin State and the more permanent land combined with shifting cultivation use in Northern Shan State. A major limitation of the study has been the fieldwork?s short duration..."
Creator/author: Kirsten Ewers Andersen
Source/publisher: Land Core Group
2016-02-19
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.82 MB
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Description: Commentary: Land Confiscation; Situation of land confiscation in Nam-Zarng and Kun-Hing; Land confiscated, villagers house destroyed, in Nam-Zarng; Cultivated land confiscated in Nam-Zarng; Farmlands and cemetery ground confiscated in Nam-Zarng; Lands confiscated, forced labour used, to build new military bases and an airstrip, in Kun-Hing; Confiscation of land with regard to mining projects; Land Confiscation due to coal mining concession in Murng-Sart; Land grabbing by businessmen in cooperation with military authorities and their cronies Lands forcibly taken, village forced to move, in Kaeng-Tung; Lands forcibly taken and sold, in Kaeng-Tung; Land forcibly taken and sold in Murng-Ton; Designation of cultivated lands as military property and levy; Land designated miltary areas, taxes levied, in Kun-Hing
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation (March 2012)
2012-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-10-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Executive Summary: "In the context of transition to a more open form of government, the Myanmar government has begun to liberalize land markets and, in 2012, enacted two major land-related laws. Implementing these new land laws has proven challenging, however, as it has been difficult to integrate these laws with the existing customary practices of various ethnic minorities. To address these and other issues UN-HABITAT Myanmar is assisting the Myanmar government in developing a Land Administration and Management Program (LAMP). As part of this process a team of Masters Students from Columbia University?s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) was invited to carry out a detailed study on customary land tenure in the southern area of Myanmar?s Shan State with a focus on three ethnic groups: the Shan, Pa-o, and Danu. The SIPA team completed a desk review of secondary source material and conducted two phases of field research. The first phase of field research was conducted in Yangon in January 2013 with the purpose of identifying opportunities and challenges the new land laws present. The second phase of field research sought to gather the impressions of farmers, community leaders, and local government representatives in southern Shan State. Information was gathered during a three-day ?worksh op” conducted in Taunggyi, the capital city of Shan State. The SIPA team?s objectives were to provide UN-HABIT AT Myanmar and the Myanmar government with needed information on three topics: 1) prevailing ideas on best practices in land management and registration procedures, 2) successful and unsuccessful land management practices in comparable countries in the region, and 3) the current status of customary land tenure and of the implementation process of the new land laws in Southern Shan State..."
Creator/author: Jesse Baver, Benoit Jonveaux, Ran Ju, Keisuke Kitamura, Pushkar Sharma, Lila Wade, Shinji Yasui
Source/publisher: UN-Ha bitat and Columbia University
2013-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-10-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.87 MB
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Description: Land grabbing by Myanmar Government in Putaoh village, Kachin State for military base expansion.
Creator/author: Song Pong
Source/publisher: Network for Enriornment and Economic Development (NEED)
2014-02-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 143.22 KB
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Description: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "Myanmar?s agricultural sector has for long suffered due to multiplicity of laws and regulations, deficient and degraded infrastructure, poor policies and planning, a chronic lack of credit, and an absence of tenure security for cultivators. These woes negate Myanmar?s bountiful natural endowments and immense agricultural potential, pushing its rural populace towards dire poverty. This review hopes to contribute to the ongoing debate on land issues in Myanmar. It focuses on land tenure issues vis-à-vis rural development and farming communities since reforms in this sector could have a significant impact on farmer innovation and investment in agriculture and livelihood sustainability. Its premise is that land and property rights cannot be understood solely as an administrative or procedural issue, but should be considered part of broader historical, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. Discussions were conducted with various stakeholders; the government?s inter-ministerial committee mandated to develop the National Action Plan for Agriculture (NAPA) served as the national counterpart. Existing literature was also reviewed. Limitations of the review included: • maintaining inclusiveness without losing focus of critical aspects such as food security; • the lack of a detailed discussion on the administration and management of forest land which is outside its purview; and an evolving regulatory environment with work currently underway on the new draft of the National Land-Use Policy (NLUP) and Land-Use Certificates (LUCs) for farmlands (Phase One work)..."
Creator/author: Shivakumar Srinivas, U Saw Hlaing
Source/publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
2015-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 1.15 MB 7.49 MB
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Description: "...Like the other resource concessions, land grabbing for large scale agriculture and military purpose in ethnic areas is a military state-building strategy of Myanmar military led-government. Since 1990s, in Myanmar, a military-run dictatorship has adopted its own version of market economy. While maintaining ownership of all land, the state allocated large land concession to companies, which have strong network with generals or government officials, for logging, mining, and agribusiness purpose. Initially, investments in natural resource extraction favored local headmen and ceasefire leaders who mediated the deals and taxed commodities crossing their borders into Thailand and China...".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.
Creator/author: L Gum Ja Htung
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015
2015-07-25
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 185.59 KB
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Description: "Villagers in Karen areas of southeast Myanmar continue to face widespread land confiscation at the hands of a multiplicity of actors. Much of this can be attributed to the rapid expansion of domestic and international commercial interest and investment in southeast Myanmar since the January 2012 preliminary ceasefire between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Myanmar government. KHRG first documented this in a 2013 report entitled ?Losing Ground?, which documented cases of land confiscation between January 2011 and November 2012. This report, ?With only our voices, what can we do??, is a follow up to that analysis and highlights continued issue areas while identifying newly documented trends. The present analysis assesses land confiscation according to a number of different factors, including: land use type; geographic distribution across KHRG?s seven research areas; perpetrators involved; whether or not compensation and/or consultation occurred; and the effects that confiscation had on local villagers. This report also seeks to highlight local responses to land confiscation, emphasising the agency that individuals and communities in southeast Myanmar already possess and the obstacles that they face when attempting to protect their own human rights. By focusing on local perspectives and giving priority to villagers? voices, this report aims to provide local, national, and international actors with a resource that will allow them to base policy and programmatic decisions that will impact communities in southeast Myanmar more closely on the experiences and concerns of the people living there."..... Toungoo (Taw Oo) District... Hpa-an District... Dooplaya District... Hpapun (Mutraw) District... Mergui-Tavoy District... Thaton (Doo Tha Htoo) District... Nyaunglebin (Kler Lwee Htoo) District...
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2015-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Karen and Burmese
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 5 MB 5.54 MB 2.81 MB 2.75 MB 2.67 MB 613.66 KB 949.09 KB
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Description: Documentary by the Land Core Group Myanmar, where 70% of the Myanmar population are smallholder farmers, about the challenges faced by poor farmers from land grabbing and land dispossession in rural Myanmar...Interviews with land activists and dispossessed farmers in different parts of the country... sections on: resistance to land-grabbing; Myanmar land law and policies (where customary tenure and women?s land rights are not explicitly recognised); efficiency of smallholder practice...
Source/publisher: Land Core Group of the Food Security Working Group
2015-03-17
Date of entry/update: 2015-03-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ (English voice-over and subtitles)
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Description: "In October 2013, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) released "Disputed Territory", a report documenting the emerging trend of Mon farmers fighting for recognition of their land rights in the face of unjust land and property confiscations. The report analyzed specific barriers impeding their success, from weak land policy and inadequate dispute resolution mechanisms, to an absence of support from various sources. While "Disputed Territory" explored the broad spectrum of land right violations among Mon communities, our current report focuses more specifically on the progress, or lack thereof, in cases of military land confiscation. In this regard, over a year has passed and yet Mon farmers continue to find themselves in a fruitless struggle. New details of past and on-going unjust military land acquisition continue to be brought to HURFOM and other media outlets, on the one hand proving that Burma?s political climate has become a safer space for victims to petition their rights, while on the other hand showing that significant challenges continue to preclude true justice for housing land and property (HLP) rights violations. Since the release of "Disputed Territory", and addressing one of the barriers to justice it highlighted, Mon farmers have gained greater access to education regarding their HLP rights, and are more aware of procedural requirements for landholders under the 2012 land laws. However, while farmers have repositioned themselves, armed with information and supported by advocates, progress remains stalled: farmers? land rights and tenancy remain insecure, properties confiscated by the military have not been returned, and farmers have not yet been justly compensated. Although there are legal channels through which farmers may now petition for their rights, appeals go unanswered. Compounding the lack of restitution for previous infractions, Burma?s small-scale farmers continue to live under the threat of future, continued land confiscations. With the value of Burma?s land steadily increasing, farmers are eager to have their land returned to them, or be provided with just compensation. Patience is running thin among those seeking justice, as the government continues to deny responsibility for the military?s crimes and government bodies established to resolve land disputes fail to do so. Farmers have learned their lessons from the past, changed their strategy in fighting for their rights, but the results remain the same. Building on previous analysis, HURFOM contends that continuing barriers to progress lie primarily in the country?s broken land management system, the failures of recent land laws to secure the protection of farmers? land rights, the failure of government bodies and authorities to perform their responsibilities unbiased from military influence, and the total impunity of the military due to the independent structure of the courts-martial. Ultimately, HURFOM advocates that deep structural change regarding these deficiencies is required, in order to redress past violations and protect farmers? land security into the future; in doing so assisting the slow process of reconciliation and trust-building between Burma?s government and Mon populations..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM)
2015-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-02-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 834.47 KB 2.59 MB
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Description: "In October 2013, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) released "Disputed Territory", a report documenting the emerging trend of Mon farmers fighting for recognition of their land rights in the face of unjust land and property confiscations. The report analyzed specific barriers impeding their success, from weak land policy and inadequate dispute resolution mechanisms, to an absence of support from various sources. While "Disputed Territory" explored the broad spectrum of land right violations among Mon communities, our current report focuses more specifically on the progress, or lack thereof, in cases of military land confiscation. In this regard, over a year has passed and yet Mon farmers continue to find themselves in a fruitless struggle. New details of past and on-going unjust military land acquisition continue to be brought to HURFOM and other media outlets, on the one hand proving that Burma?s political climate has become a safer space for victims to petition their rights, while on the other hand showing that significant challenges continue to preclude true justice for housing land and property (HLP) rights violations. Since the release of "Disputed Territory", and addressing one of the barriers to justice it highlighted, Mon farmers have gained greater access to education regarding their HLP rights, and are more aware of procedural requirements for landholders under the 2012 land laws. However, while farmers have repositioned themselves, armed with information and supported by advocates, progress remains stalled: farmers? land rights and tenancy remain insecure, properties confiscated by the military have not been returned, and farmers have not yet been justly compensated. Although there are legal channels through which farmers may now petition for their rights, appeals go unanswered. Compounding the lack of restitution for previous infractions, Burma?s small-scale farmers continue to live under the threat of future, continued land confiscations. With the value of Burma?s land steadily increasing, farmers are eager to have their land returned to them, or be provided with just compensation. Patience is running thin among those seeking justice, as the government continues to deny responsibility for the military?s crimes and government bodies established to resolve land disputes fail to do so. Farmers have learned their lessons from the past, changed their strategy in fighting for their rights, but the results remain the same. Building on previous analysis, HURFOM contends that continuing barriers to progress lie primarily in the country?s broken land management system, the failures of recent land laws to secure the protection of farmers? land rights, the failure of government bodies and authorities to perform their responsibilities unbiased from military influence, and the total impunity of the military due to the independent structure of the courts-martial. Ultimately, HURFOM advocates that deep structural change regarding these deficiencies is required, in order to redress past violations and protect farmers? land security into the future; in doing so assisting the slow process of reconciliation and trust-building between Burma?s government and Mon populations..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM)
2015-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-02-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 2.59 MB
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Description: "Access to land for smallholder farmers is a critical foundation for food security in Myanmar?s uplands. Land tenure guarantees seem to be eroding and access to land becoming more difficult in some upland areas. If this trend continues it may have negative impacts for food security and undermine environmental and economic sustainability. This briefing paper explores the relationship between land tenure and food security, as well as key institutional and other factors that influence land access and tenure for smallholder farmers in the uplands today..."
Source/publisher: Food Security Working Group
2010-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2013-10-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Format : pdf
Size: 489.34 KB
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Description: "Access to land for smallholder farmers is a critical foundation for food security in Myanmar?s uplands. Land tenure guarantees seem to be eroding and access to land becoming more difficult in some upland areas. If this trend continues it may have negative impacts for food security and undermine environmental and economic sustainability. This briefing paper explores the relationship between land tenure and food security, as well as key institutional and other factors that influence land access and tenure for smallholder farmers in the uplands today."
Source/publisher: Food Security Working Group
2010-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2013-10-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 457.58 KB
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Description: "This report provides an overview of issues related to upland smallholder land tenure. The immediate objective of the report is to promote a shared understanding of land tenure issues by national-level stakeholders, with a longer term objective of improving the land tenure, livelihood and food security of upland farm families. The report is intended for government and non-government agencies, policy makers and those impacted by policy. The report covers four main areas: status of and trends in upland tenure security; institutions that regulate upland tenure security; mechanisms available to ensure access to land; and points for further consideration which could lead to increased effectiveness and equity. Trends in the uplands include increased population growth, resettlement and concentration of populations, fragmentation and degradation of agricultural lands, and increased loss of land to smallholder farmers or landlessness. Declining access to land for smallholder farmers results in the depletion of common forest resources, increased unemployment, outmigration for labor, and ultimately food insecurity for the people who live in these areas..."
Source/publisher: Food Security Working Group
2011-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2013-10-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 4.34 MB
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Description: "This report provides an overview of issues related to upland smallholder land tenure. The immediate objective of the report is to promote a shared understanding of land tenure issues by national-level stakeholders, with a longer term objective of improving the land tenure, livelihood and food security of upland farm families. The report is intended for government and non-government agencies, policy makers and those impacted by policy. The report covers four main areas: status of and trends in upland tenure security; institutions that regulate upland tenure security; mechanisms available to ensure access to land; and points for further consideration which could lead to increased effectiveness and equity. Trends in the uplands include increased population growth, resettlement and concentration of populations, fragmentation and degradation of agricultural lands, and increased loss of land to smallholder farmers or landlessness. Declining access to land for smallholder farmers results in the depletion of common forest resources, increased unemployment, outmigration for labor, and ultimately food insecurity for the people who live in these areas..."
Source/publisher: Food Security Working Group
2011-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2013-10-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.61 MB
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Description: "RANGOON—Less than eight months after a parliamentary commission began investigating land-grabbing in Burma, it has received complaints that the military has forcibly seized about 250,000 acres of farmland from villagers, according to the commission?s report. The Farmland Investigation Commission submitted its first report to Burma?s Union Parliament on Friday, which focused on land seizures by the military. According to the report, the commission received 565 complaints between late July and Jan. 24 that allege that the military had forcibly confiscated 247,077 acres (almost 100,000 hectares) of land. The cases occurred across central Burma and the country?s ethnic regions, although most happened in Irrawaddy Division..."
Creator/author: Htet Naing Zaw, Aye Kyawt Khaing
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2013-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2013-03-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This past week the parliamentary Farmland Investigation Commission submitted its report on land confiscation to the parliament. The report finds that the military have taken almost 250,000 acres of land from villagers. The commission stated that they had spoken to military leaders about the confiscation, ?Vice Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing […] confirmed to me that the army will return seized farmlands that are away from its bases, and they are also thinking about providing farmers with compensation.?..."
Source/publisher: Burma Partnership
2013-03-12
Date of entry/update: 2013-03-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Analysis of KHRG?s field information gathered between January 2011 and November 2012 in seven geographic research areas in eastern Myanmar indicates that natural resource extraction and development projects undertaken or facilitated by civil and military State authorities, armed ethnic groups and private investors resulted in land confiscation and forced displacement, and were implemented without consulting, compensating or notifying project-affected communities. Exclusion from decision-making and displacement and barriers to land access present major obstacles to effective local-level response, while current legislation does not provide easily accessible mechanisms to allow their complaints to be heard. Despite this, villagers employ forms of collective action that provide viable avenues to gain representation, compensation and forestall expropriation. Key findings in this report were drawn based upon analysis of four trends, including: Lack of consultation; Land confiscation; Disputed compensation; and Development-induced displacement and resettlement, as well as four collective action strategies, including: Reporting to authorities; Organizing a committee or protest; Negotiation; and Non-compliance, and six consequences on communities, including: Negative impacts on livelihoods; Environmental impacts; Physical security threats; Forced labour and exploitative demands; Denial of access to humanitarian goods and services; and Migration."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2013-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2013-03-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 2.35 MB 6.19 MB
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Description: "Farmers from Ayeyarwady Region have established an association to strengthen their land use rights and improve technical knowledge. The Farmer Development Association is based on more than 50 village-level groups, ranging in size from five to more than 30 members, formed recently in Bogale, Kyaiklat and Mawlamyinegyun townships..."
Creator/author: Ei Ei Toe Lwin
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2012-11-27
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "More than 30 farmers from four villages in Hlaing Tharyar township protested outside the Department for Human Settlement and Housing Development (DHSHD) on Bogyoke Aung San Road this week. The farmers had been demonstrating for more than three weeks outside the office of Wah Wah Win Company, on the corner of Anawrahta and Sintohtan streets in downtown Yangon, before shifting their attention to the DHSHD office after getting no response. They are unhappy that the company has allegedly backtracked on a compensation promise made following protests in the middle of the year. ?We demonstrated for 23 days [since Wednesday, October 31] in front of the [Wah Wah Win] office. We called on them to negotiate the complicated land issues in Hlaing Tharyar township but they took no notice so we moved to DHSHD in the hope that they could solve the problem. We decided to stay here until they solve the problem for us,? said Ko Kyi Shwin from Kyun Ka Lay village in Hlaing Tharyar township. The land in Kyun Ka Lay, Kyun Gyee, Kan Phyu and Atwin Padan was confiscated by DHSHD more than two decades ago without compensation..."
Creator/author: Ei Ei Toe Lwin
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2012-11-24
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The Asian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday sent a message of support to farmers and their allies gathering for a "people?s conference" to oppose land confiscation and degradation for a copper mining project. In the message to farmers and others gathering for the inaugural Letpadaung Mountain region people?s conference, the AHRC said that the farmers? struggle set "an important example and signals the determination of people [in Burma]… to resist dispossession, repression and the use of violence and illegal tactics by powerful interests". AHRC-PRL-044-2012.jpgThe farmers around the Letpadaung Mountain, which is in Sagaing Region, have since June conducted an increasingly high profile and determined campaign against attempts by an army-owned company and a Chinese partner firm to push them off their farmland. They have posted signs warning "no trespassing" onto agricultural lands, and in October conducted a funeral march to a local cemetery where while praying, they insisted that the spirits of deceased ancestors are also rising up against the new copper mining project -- one of a string of such projects conducted in the region over decades..."
Source/publisher: Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
2012-10-18
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Much has been made in recent times of the continued use in Burma of antiquated and anti-human rights laws from the country?s decades of military rule, as well as from the colonial era. While legislators discuss the amendment or revocation of some laws, and the issue is debated in the public domain, much less is said of the superstructure of military-introduced administrative orders that officials around the country continue to employ in their day-to-day activities, invariably in order to circumscribe or deny human rights. Among these orders are some being used to restrict or prevent access to land of people who rightfully occupy or cultivate the land, as in the case of villagers from some 26 villages affected by the copper mining project in the Letpadaung Mountain range in Sagaing Region, on which the Asian Human Rights Commission has previously spoken (AHRC-PRL-044-2012). The AHRC has obtained copies of a series of orders issued by Zaw Moe Aung, chief administrator of Sarlingyi Township, where villagers have been fighting since mid-2012 against the expansion of copper mining in the region onto their farmlands. The orders, issued under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, prohibit villagers from access to their farmlands or any form of use of the farmlands, such as for the grazing of cattle. The latest orders expired at the end of October; however, people in the region expect that they will be renewed, or that in any event they will simply be denied access to their land, which is being taken over by an army-owned company and its partner..."
Source/publisher: Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
2012-11-05
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: * Themes: All the reports in this month?s issue are about various types of Land Grabbing and Confiscation, and a few incidents of other violations, committed by members of the Burmese army and their cronies during mid and late 2012... * Places: Ta-Khi-Laek, Murng-Ton, Murng-Sart, Loi-Lem, Murng-Nai, Lai-Kha, Mawk-Mai, Larng-Khur, Kae-See, Nam-Zarng and Parng-Yarng.....Rampant Land Grabbing Continues: Themes & Places of Violations reported in this issue... Acronyms... Map... Farmlands seized by police in Ta-Khi-Laek... Land grabbed and resold by military in Murng-Ton... Farmlands seized by Burmese Army-Sponsored people?s militia, in Murng-Sart... Villagers? farmlands seized by ?Wa? ceasefire group, in Murng-Ton... Villagers? lands seized by headman, with the help of land officials, in Loi-Lem... Farmlands seized without knowledge of owners in many townships in Central Shan State... Villagers fined for trying to work their farmlands taken by military in Nam-Zarng... Lands seized for building roads, displacing people, by ceasefire group in Parng-Yarng.
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF)
2012-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Executive Summary: "Few issues are as frequently discussed and politically charged in transitional Myanmar as the state of housing, land and property (HLP) rights. The effectiveness of the laws and policies that address the fundamental and universal human need for a place to live, to raise a family, and to earn a living, is one of the primary criterion by which most people determine the quality of their lives and judge the effectiveness and legitimacy of their Governments. Housing, land and property issues undergird economic relations, and have critical implications for the ability to vote and otherwise exercise political power, for food security and for the ability to access education and health care. As the nation struggles to build greater democracy and seeks growing engagement with the outside world, Myanmar finds itself at an extraordinary juncture; in fact, it finds itself at the HLP Crossroads. The decisions the Government makes about HLP matters during the remainder of 2012 and beyond, in particular the highly controversial issue of potentially transforming State land into privately held assets, will set in place a policy direction that will have a marked impact on the future development of the country and the day-to-day circumstances in which people live. Getting it right will fundamentally and positively transform the nation from the bottom-up and help to create a nation that consciously protects the rights of all and shows the true potential of what was until very recently one of the world?s most isolated nations. Getting it wrong, conversely, will delay progress, and more likely than not drag the nation?s economy and levels of human rights protections downwards for decades to come. Myanmar faces an unprecedented scale of structural landlessness in rural areas, increasing displacement threats to farmers as a result of growing investment interest by both national and international firms, expanding speculation in land and real estate, and grossly inadequate housing conditions facing significant sections of both the urban and rural population. Legal and other protections afforded by the current legal framework, the new Farmland Law and other newly enacted legislation are wholly inadequate. These conditions are further compounded by a range of additional HLP challenges linked both to the various peace negotiations and armed insurgencies in the east of the country, in particular Kachin State, and the unrest in Rakhine State in the western region. The Government and people of Myanmar are thus struggling with a series of HLP challenges that require immediate, high-level and creative attention in a rights-based and consistent manner. As the country begins what will be a long and arduous journey toward democratization, the rule of law and stable new institutions, laws and procedures, the time is ripe for the Government to work together with all stakeholders active within the HLP sector to develop a unique Myanmar- centric approach to addressing HLP challenges that shows the country?s true potential. And it is also time for the Government to begin to take comprehensive measures - some quick and short-term, others more gradual and long-term - to equitably and intelligently address the considerable HLP challenges the country faces, and grounding these firmly within the reform process.Having thoroughly examined the de facto and de jure HLP situation in the country based on numerous interviews, reports and visits, combined with an exhaustive review of the entire HLP legislative framework in place in the country, this report recommends that the following four general measures be commenced by the Government of Myanmar before the end of 2012 to improve the HLP prospects of Myanmar:..."
Source/publisher: Displacement Solutions
2012-10-25
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.43 MB
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Description: "Land grabbing is an urgent concern for people in Tanintharyi Division, and ultimately one of national and international concern, as tens of thousands of people are being displaced for the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Dawei lies within Myanmar?s (Burma) southernmost region, the Tanintharyi Division, which borders Mon State to the North, and Thailand to the East, on territory that connects the Malay Peninsula with mainland Asia. This highly populated and prosperous region is significant because of its ecologically-diversity and strategic position along the Andaman coast. Since 2008 the area has been at risk of massive expulsion of people and unprecedented environmental costs, when a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Thai and Myanmar governments, followed by a MoU between Thai investor Italian-Thai Development Corporation (ITD) (see Box 1) and Myanma Port Authority, granted ITD access to the Dawei region to build Asia?s newest regional hub. Thai interest in Dawei is strategic for two reasons. First, the small city happens to be Bangkok?s nearest gateway to the Andaman Sea, and ultimately to India and the Middle East. Second, the project links with a broader regional development plan, strategically plugging into the Asian Development Bank?s (ADB) East-West Economic Corridor, a massive transport and trade network connecting Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam; the Southern Economic Corridor (connecting to Cambodia); and the North-South Economic Corridor, with rail links to Kunming, China. If all goes as planned, the Dawei SEZ project, with an estimated infrastructural investment of over USD $50 billion will be Southeast Asia?s largest industrial complex, complete with a deep seaport, industrial estate (including large petrochemical industrial complex, heavy industry zone, oil and gas industry, as well as medium and light industries), and a road/pipeline/rail link that will extend 350 kilometers to Bangkok (via Kanchanaburi). The project even has its own legal framework, the Dawei Special Economic Zone Law, drafted in 2011 to ensure the industrial estate is attractive to potential investors..."
Creator/author: Elizabeth Loewen
Source/publisher: Paung Ku and Transnational Institute (TNI)
2012-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Land grabbing and speculation, which can both manifest in a multitude of forms, are unfortunate, often-inter-twined, yet common practices in countries undergoing structural political transition. If unchecked, unregulated, or unintentionally encouraged by the very governments that replace formerly authoritarian regimes, these two land realities can serve to undermine democratic reforms, entrench economic and political privilege and seriously harm the human rights prospects of those affected, in particular internationally recognised housing, land and property (HLP) rights. Land grabbing and speculation can increase inequality, harm economic prospects and create conditions where social tensions and even violence may become inevitable. Unless law and policy explicitly address the negative consequences of these practices, land grabbing and speculation can erode citizen confidence in government, reduce incomes and livelihoods and increase poverty and broad declines in a range of vital social indicators. And yet, there is nothing inevitable or inherent about the inequitable acquisition and control of ever-larger quantities of land in fewer and fewer hands. Indeed, governments wishing to protect the HLP rights of rural and urban dwellers and properly regulate the land acquisition and transfer process can succeed in reducing the prevalence of both land grabbing and speculation, improve the human rights prospects of current landholders and ultimately strengthen both democratic processes and macro-economic perspectives. It is clear that these issues are affecting Myanmar at the moment, and that it is up to the Government to take steps to address these problems in a fair, effective and equitable manner Twelve possible steps that the Government may wish to consider, include:..."
Creator/author: Displacement Solutions
Source/publisher: Scott Leckie
2012-07-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Format : pdf
Size: 270.28 KB
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Description: "The current reforms in Burma/Myanmar are worsening land grabs in the country. Since the mid-2000s there has been a spike in land grabs, especially leading up to the 2010 national elections. Military and government authorities have been granting large-scale land concessions to well-connected Burmese companies. Farmers? protests against land grabs have drawn recent public attention to many high profile cases, such as Yuzana?s Hukawng Valley cassava concession, the Dawei SEZ in Tanintharyi Region near the Thai border, Zaygaba?s industrial development zone outside Yangon, and the current Monywa copper mine expansion in Sagaing Division, among many others. By 2011, over 200 Burmese companies had officially been allocated approximately 2 million acres (nearly 810,000 hectares) for privately held agricultural concessions, mainly for agro-industrial crops such as rubber, palm oil, jatropha (physic nut), cassava and sugarcane. Land grabs are now set to accelerate due to new government laws that are specifically designed to encourage foreign investments in land. The two new land laws (the Farmlands Law and the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Law) establish a legal framework to reallocate so-called ?wastelands? to domestic and foreign private investors. Moreover, the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Law and Foreign Investment Law that are being finalized, along with ASEAN-ADB regional infrastructure development plans, will provide new incentives and drivers for land grabbing and further compound the dispossession of local communities from their lands and resources. Land conflicts that are now emerging throughout the country will worsen as foreign companies, supported by foreign governments and International Financial Institutions (IFIs), rush in to profit from Burma/Myanmar?s political and economic transition period..."
Source/publisher: farmlandgrab.org,. Focus on the Global South et al
2012-10-09
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Although Myanmar/Burma has undergone unprecedented political change in recent months, the country is currently grappling with a severe land grabbing and speculation crisis. The DS Director, Scott Leckie, was requested to provide guidance to the Government about how to address these pressing issues, the views of which are contained in a guidance note on land grabbing and speculation which can be viewed here. DS? landmark study Myanmar at the HLP Crossroads will be released in the coming weeks"
Source/publisher: Displacement Solutions
2012-08-08
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: As Myanmar?s opening economy is celebrated, rights activists warn it will see people who have lived in areas for generations forced out under ?legal? means that merely cover mercenary greed.
Creator/author: Phil Thornton
Source/publisher: "Bangkok Post" from "The Lancet" 5 April and "Science" 6 April
2012-04-22
Date of entry/update: 2012-09-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Analysis of the social costs of large-scale Chinese-supported rubber farms in northern Burma suggests that the future for ordinary citizens will be affected as much by the country?s chosen economic path as the political reforms underway.
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
2012-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-09-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The complaint letter below, signed by 25 local community members, was written in July 2011 and raises villagers? concerns related to the construction of the Kanchanaburi ? Tavoy [Dawei] highway linking Thailand and the Tavoy deep sea port. Villagers described concerns that the highway would bisect agricultural land and destroy crops under cultivation worth 3,280,500 kyat (US $3,657). In response to these concerns, local community members formed a group called the ?Village and Public Sustainable Development? to represent villagers? concerns and request compensation."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-07-24
Date of entry/update: 2012-08-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 95.49 KB
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Description: "This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during April 2012 in Ler Mu Lah Township, Mergui/Tavoy District by a community member trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The community member interviewed 40-year-old G--- village head, Saw K---, who described abusive practices perpetrated by the Tatmadaw in his village throughout the previous four year period, including forced labour, arbitrary taxation in the form of both goods and money, and obstructions to humanitarian relief, specifically medical care availability and education support. Saw K--- also discussed development projects and land confiscation that has occurred in the area, including one oil palm company that came to deforest 700 acres of land next to G--- village in order to plant oil palm trees, as well as the arrival of a Malaysian logging company, neither of which provided any compensation to villagers for the land that was confiscated. However, the Malaysian logging company did provide enough wood, iron nails and roofing material for one school in the village, and promised the villagers that it would provide additional support later. Saw K--- raised other concerns regarding the food security, health care and difficulties with providing education for children in the village. In order to address these issues, Saw K--- explained that villagers have met with the Ler Mu Lah Township leaders to solve land confiscation problems, but some G--- villagers have had to give up their land, including a full nursery of betel nut plantations, based on the company?s claim that the plantations were illegally maintained."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-07-18
Date of entry/update: 2012-08-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 135.05 KB
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Description: "FARMERS from Alwan Sut village in Yangon Region?s Thanlyin township are seeking the right to continue to farm land they were forced to sell 15 years ago for a dormant building project..."
Creator/author: Ei Ei Toe Lwin
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2012-06-11
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "MORE than 100 households and 20 acres of farmland in Kyaukpyu township, Rakhine State, have been forced to make way for an airport expansion project with only partial compensation, a Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) official said last week..."
Creator/author: Aye Sapay Phyu
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2012-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: MOVIE director Wine is working on two short documentary films about current events in Myanmar, which he says he will screen at cinemas free of charge once they are completed. Wine told The Myanmar Times that he has been working on the documentaries — which explore media law and land confiscations, respectively — since January.
Creator/author: Nyein Ei Ei Htwe
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2012-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in April 2012 by a community member describing events occurring in Papun District, in the period between January and March 2012. It provides information on land confiscation by Border Guard Battalion #1013, which has appropriated villagers? communal grazing land between D--- and M--- villages for the construction of barracks for housing soldiers? families. Related to this project is the planned construction of a dam on the Noh Paw Htee River south of D--- village, which is expected to result in the subsequent flooding of 150 acres of D--- villagers? farmland, valued at US $91,687. Villagers from K?Ter Tee, Htee Th?Bluh Hta, and Th?Buh Hta village tracts have also reported facing demands for materials used for making thatch shingles, for which villagers receive either minimal or no payment. Updated information concerning other military activity is also provided, specifically on troop augmentation, with LID #22, and IB #8 and #96 reported to have joined Border Guard Battalion #1013 by establishing bases at K?Ter Tee, as well as reports of increased transportation of rations, weapons and troops to camps in the border regions. Details are also provided on new restrictions introduced since the January 2012 ceasefire agreement on the movement of Tatmadaw units; similar restrictions have been documented in Toungoo District in a report published by KHRG in May 2012, "Toungoo Situation Update: Tantabin Township, January to March 2012." Information is also given on a recent Tatmadaw directive, which stipulates that soldiers and villagers living near to military camps must inform any KNU officials they encounter that they are welcome to meet with Tatmadaw commanders or officers."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-05-24
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 258.71 KB
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Description: "THE Kayin State Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation has urged farmers to prepare land ownership documentation in order to avoid land disputes with agribusinesses, a growing issue in Myanmar. ?The parliaments approved the farmland law and vacant land law so now you can sell or mortgage ? the lands you have been living on. So you should start preparing to secure legal ownership through the proper channels. We have already informed the head of the Survey Department. There needs to be a survey of properties in each township and village. If not, there could possibly be land disputes in the future,” the minister, U Christopher, said at a May 22-24 meeting in Thandaunggyi township, Kayin State, to explain the outcome of peace talks between the government and Karen National Union..."
Creator/author: Soe Than Lynn
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2012-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "In a written statement during its September 2011 session, the Asian Legal Resource Centre alerted the Human Rights Council to the dangers posed to the rights of people in Myanmar by the convergence of military, business and administrative interests in new projects aimed at displacing cultivators and residents from their farms and homes. At that time, the Centre wrote that whereas seizure of land has long been practiced in Myanmar, in recent years its dynamics have changed, from direct seizure by army units and government departments, to seizure by army-owned companies, joint ventures and other economically and politically powerful operations with connections to the military..."
Source/publisher: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
2012-06-06
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 101.26 KB
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Description: While the major non-American Western oil companies adopt and wait-and-see policy and US firms remain barred by Washington?s sanctions, shadowy oil enterprises are gaining footholds in Burma. Among firms which have recently won licenses to explore for oil and gas are little-known businesses based in Panama, Nigeria and Azerbaijan—countries where corporate accountability can be murky. Not only does the bidding process remain opaque, the pedigree of some of the participants is too..."
Creator/author: William Boot
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-05-09
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "While foreign governments heap praise on the Burmese government?s liberal tilt, land theft appears to be increasing as state agencies and powerfully placed domestic firms position themselves to welcome foreign investment. Farmers across the country are being muscled out of their fields with little hope of appeal to the law. This is because despite all the trumpeting in the West about President Thein Sein?s ?reforms,” the rule of law in Burma is closer to 12th Century Europe than the 21st Century. In medieval Europe, land ownership was determined by sharp swords and private armies. In present-day Burma, powerful businesses linked to the army do much the same. Land confiscation is being reported near the south coast, in the Rangoon region, around Mandalay and in northern areas close to the border with China. Farmers and their families are being forcibly moved for major projects, such as the oil and gas pipelines being built through the country from the Bay of Bengal to the Chinese border, and for smaller industrial projects by firms with long crony links to the military. Even where the local authorities have sided with expelled farmers, big businesses feel confident enough to ignore them. Just last week, The Irrawaddy reported how industrial firm Zay Kabar has continued to bulldoze snatched land despite a stop order issued by the administrative office of the Rangoon area?s Mingaladon Township..."
Creator/author: William Boot
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-05-15
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: အစီရင်ခံစာအကျဉ်းချုပ် ရှမ်းပြည်နယ် အရှေ့ပိုင်း တာချီလိတ်မြို ၏့ မြောက်ဖက် တောင်တန်းဒေများတွင် ဒေသခံများကို ထိခိုကေ် စသည့် ရွှေဖြူတူးဖော်ခြင်းလုပ်ငန်းကို ၂၀၀၇ခုနှစ်မှ စတင်ခဲ့ကာ ယင်းကြောင့် လားဟူ၊ အာခါနှင့် ရှမ်းရွာ ၈ရွာမှာ လူပေါင်း ၂၀၀၀ကျော်ကို ထိခိုက်စေခဲ့သည်။ ရွှေဖြူတူးဖော်မှုကို မြန်မာကုမ္ပဏီများက ဆောင်ရွက်နေပြီး တရုတ်နှင့် ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံသို့ တင်ပို့လျှက်ရှိသည်။ တာချလီ တိ ြ်မို့ မြောကဖ် က ် ၁၃ကလီ မို တီ ာအကွာရ ှိအားရဲခေါ် အာခါရွာအနီးတငွ ်ကမု ဏ္ပ ၅ီ ခကု လပု င် န်း လပု က် ငို လ် ျှကရ် သှိ ည။် ထကို မု ဏ္ပ မီ ျားက ရွာသားများပငို ဆ် ငို သ် ည့်ပစည္စ ်းများနငှ့် မြေယာများက ိုအတင်းအကျပဖ် အိ ားပေး၍ ဈေးနမှိ ်ရောင်းချစေသကသဲ့ ို မြေယာအချို က့ ို လျှော်ကြေးမပေးဘဲ အဓမ္မသိမ်း ယူ ခဲ့ကြသည်။ ထောင်ပေါင်းများစွာသော စိုက်ပျိုးမြေဧကများနှင့် သစ်တောများကို ကုမ္ပဏီက သိမ်းယူနေပြီး အချို့သောမြေယာများသည် သတ္တုတွင်းမှ အညစ်အကြေးများစွန့်ပစ်သောကြောင့် ပျကဆ် ီးလျှကရ် သှိ ည။် ရွာသရူ ွာသားများ အသုံးပြုသည့်အဝေးပြေးလမ်းသ့ိုသွားရောကရ် ာလမ်းမှာလည်း သတု္တတူးဖောသ် ည့် ကုန်တင်ကားများ၊ စက်ယန္တယားကြီးများ ဖြတ်သန်းသွားခြင်းကြောင့် ပျက်ဆီးကြရသည်။ သတု္တတူးဖောြ်ခင်းကြောင့် ရွာသားများ အဓကိ အသုံးပြုနေသော ရေအရင်းအမြစ ်ညစည် မ်းလျှကရ် ြှိပီး ရေစီးကြောင်းများလည်း ပြောင်းလဲကုန်သည်။ ယင်းအခြေအနေများက ဒေသခံအမျိုးသမီးများကို ကြီးမားသော အခက်အခဲများဖြစ်ပေါ်စေသည်။ အကြောင်းမှာ ရေရရှိရန်အတွက် အလွန်ဝေးကွာသောခရီးကို ခြေလျင် လမ်းလျှောက်သွားရသောကြောင့် ဖြစ်သည်။ ထို့အတူ သတ္တုတူးဖော်ရာလုပ်ငန်းသို့ အမျိုးသားရွှေ့ပြောင်းအလုပ်သမားများ အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် ရောက်ရှိ လာခြင်းကြောင့် ထိုနေရာတဝိုက်တွင်နေထိုင်သည့် အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ လုံခြုံရေးမှာ အန္တရာယ် ကျရောက် လျှက်ရှိသည်။ စိုက်ခင်းသို့ သွားသည့်အမျိုးသမီးများမှာ လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ ထိပါးနှောင့်ယှက်မှုများကို ကြုံတွေ့ နေရသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များမှာ သတ္တုတွင်းအလုပ်သမားများ၏ မယားငယ်များအဖြစ် သိမ်းယူခံရသကဲ့သို့ အချို့ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များမှာ ပြည့်တန်ဆာများ ဖြစ်ကြရသည်။ သတ္တုတွင်းဝန်ထမ်းများက ဒေသခံ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များကို လူကုန်ကူးရာတွင် ပါဝင်ပတ်သက်နေကြသည်။ ရွာသ၊ူ ရွာသားများ၏ အခငွ အ့် ရေးက ိုကာကွယ်ပေးသည့် ဥပဒေစိုးမိုးမလှု ည်း ကင်းမဲ့နေသည။် မြနမ် ာစစတ် ပမ် ှအရာရမှိ ျားအား လာဘ်ထိုးခြင်းအားဖြင့် သတ္တုတူးဖော်သည့် ကုမ္ပဏီများသည် လူမှုရေးနှင့် သဘာဝပတ်ဝန်းကျင်ဆိုင်ရာ စံသတ်မှတ်ချက်များကို လိုက်နာရန်မလိုဘဲ လုပ်ငန်းလုပ်ကိုင်နိုင်ကြသည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် သတ္တုတူးဖော်သည့်ကုမ္ပဏီများနှင့် အိမ်နီးချင်းနိုင်ငံမှ ရွှေဖြူဝယ်ယူသူတို့သည် လူမှုရေးနှင့် သဘာဝပတ်ဝန်းကျင် ထိန်းသိမ်းရေးဆိုင်ရာ တာဝန်များကို ရှောင်ရှားခြင်းဖြင့် သတ္တုတူးဖော်ခြင်း လုပ်ငန်းမှ အမြတ်ငွေ များနိုင်သမျှ များများရအောင် ဆောင်ရွက်နေကြသည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် လားဟူ အမျိုးသမီးအဖွဲ့က ဒေသတွင်းဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက်မှုကို မဖြစ်စေဘဲ ဆင်းရဲမွဲတေမှုနှင့် သဘာဝပတ်ဝန်းကျင် ပျက်ဆီးမှုကိုသာဖြစ်စေသည့် သတ္တုတူးဖော်ခြင်းလုပ်ငန်းကို ချက်ချင်း ရပ်တန့်ရန် မြန်မာအစိုးရအား တောင်းဆိုသည်။
Source/publisher: Lahu Women?s Organization
2012-05-08
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 1.81 MB 44.89 KB
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Description: Burmese and Chinese companies are pushing aside Akha, Lahu and Shan villagers in eastern Shan State in a grab for platinum (?white gold” in Burmese). Women are facing particular hardship due to the loss of livelihood and the contamination of water sources. The Lahu Women Organization is calling for an immediate halt to these damaging mining operations....Summary Since 2007, destructive platinum mining has been taking place in the hills north of Tachilek, eastern Shan State, impacting about 2,000 people from eight Lahu, Akha and Shan villages. The platinum is being extracted by Burmese mining companies and exported to China and Thailand. Five companies are currently operating around the Akha village of Ah Yeh, 13 kilometers north of Tachilek. They have forced villagers to sell property and land at cheap prices, and confiscated other lands without compensation. Hundreds of acres of farms and forestland have been seized, or destroyed by dumping of mining waste. The villagers? access road to the main highway has been ruined by the passage of heavy mining trucks and machinery. The main water source for local villagers has been diverted and contaminated by the mining, causing tremendous hardship for local women, who must now walk long distances to do their washing. Women are also facing increased security risks from the influx of migrant male miners into the area. There is regular sexual harassment of women going to their fields. Young women are being taken as minor wives by the miners; some are also becoming sex workers. Mining staff have also been involved in trafficking of local women. There is no rule of law protecting the rights of the local villagers. By paying off the local Burmese military, mining companies are able to carry out operations without adhering to any social or environmental standards. The companies and platinum buyers in neighbouring countries are therefore maximizing profits by avoiding responsibility for the social and environmental costs of the mines. The Lahu Women?s Organisation therefore calls on the Burmese government to put an immediate stop to these destructive mining operations, which are not contributing to local development, but are causing poverty and environmental degradation..."
Source/publisher: Lahu Women?s Organization
2012-05-08
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.81 MB
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Description: Summary: Since 2007, destructive platinum mining has been taking place in the hills north of Tachilek, eastern Shan State, impacting about 2,000 people from eight Lahu, Akha and Shan villages. The platinum is being extracted by Burmese mining companies and exported to China and Thailand. Five companies are currently operating around the Akha village of Ah Yeh, 13 kilometers north of Tachilek. They have forced villagers to sell property and land at cheap prices, and confiscated other lands without compensation. Hundreds of acres of farms and forestland have been seized, or destroyed by dumping of mining waste. The villagers? access road to the main highway has been ruined by the passage of heavy mining trucks and machinery. The main water source for local villagers has been diverted and contaminated by the mining, causing tremendous hardship for local women, who must now walk long distances to do their washing. Women are also facing increased security risks from the influx of migrant male miners into the area. There is regular sexual harassment of women going to their fields. Young women are being taken as minor wives by the miners; some are also becoming sex workers. Mining staff have also been involved in trafficking of local women. There is no rule of law protecting the rights of the local villagers. By paying off the local Burmese military, mining companies are able to carry out operations without adhering to any social or environmental standards. The companies and platinum buyers in neighbouring countries are therefore maximizing profits by avoiding responsibility for the social and environmental costs of the mines. The Lahu Women?s Organisation therefore calls on the Burmese government to put an immediate stop to these destructive mining operations, which are not contributing to local development, but are causing poverty and environmental degradation.
Source/publisher: Lahu Women?s Organization
2012-05-08
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Lahu (Metadata: English)
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Description: "Zay Kabar, a Burmese company that has been accused of illegally confiscating more than 800 acres of land from farmers in Shwenanthar, a village in Rangoon?s Mingaladon Township, has continued clearing the land despite being told to stop by local authorities. After embankments on the farmland were leveled last week, around 50 farmers began rebuilding them in preparation for the start of the planting season, prompting officials from the Housing Department and the local administrative office to order both sides to desist. However, the company has ignored the order and resumed its work on the land, according to the farmers..."
Creator/author: Nyein Nyein
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-05-11
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Around 200 acres of land has been confiscated by platinum mining companies in Tachilek Township, eastern Shan State, despite nascent democratic reforms by the Burmese government, according to report released by the Lahu Women?s Organization (LWO). "Grab For White Gold" has been produced by the Thailand-based LWO and two other local land activists and was presented at a press conference in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Tuesday. The two activists told reporters that eight villages—comprising a total of 393 households and 2,000 people—have been impacted by the platinum mining companies. There are also reports of sexual harassment, abductions and girls being cheated into marriage as a consequence. Ore produced in the region is sold to China at around US $3,000 per ton with the LWO accusing Burmese companies such Sai Laung Hein, U Myint Aung, Hein Lin San and Wunna Thein Than of running the mining operations. The disputed farmland has belonged to ethnic people—including Shan, Akha and Lahu communities—for generations. The companies force them to sell their land at around half the true value, or simply confiscate it without compensation despite protests from the rightful owners..."
Creator/author: LAWI WENG
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-05-08
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Khin Shwe, the chairman of Zay Kabar Company and a member of Burma?s Lower House, will face a lawsuit filed by farmers from Rangoon?s Mingaladon Township whose farmland he allegedly confiscated. The farmers were previously allowed to continue growing paddy and other crops even after their lands were seized, but they are no longer permitted to do so. Many have been threatened and told to vacate the land, that?s why they are preparing to sue him, said Kyaw Sein, a farmer who lost 50 acres of land..."
Creator/author: Khin Oo Thar
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-02-17
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Over 7,800 acres of farmland in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Division, has been confiscated for a copper mine project with landowners forced out of their villages, according to local sources. A number of concerned residents told The Irrawaddy that grabbed lands belong to people in Salingyi?s Hse Te, Zee Daw, Wet Hmay and Kan Taw villages and authorities ordered residents to leave the area earlier this year. Most of the villagers do not want to relocate but some have already left, they claim. Farmers also said that they were only given a small amount of compensation for their property as, according to company officials and local authorities, their lands are actually owned by the state and the confiscation was carried out by presidential order..."
Creator/author: Khin Oo Thar
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-05-04
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in January 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Dooplaya District, during the period between August and October, 2011. The villager who wrote this report provides information concerning increasing military activity in Kyone Doh Township, including the confiscation of 600 acres of farmland for building a camp in Da Lee Kyo Waing town by Border Guard Battalion #1021, and the construction of new military camps, one by LIB #208 in Htee Poo Than village and another by the KPF near to Htee Poo Than village. The villager who wrote this report also noted demands from the Burmese Army that local villagers cover half of the cost of the construction of two bridges in Kyone Doh Township, as well as ongoing taxation demands from various armed groups, including the KNU, SPDC, Border Guard, DKBA, KPF, KPC and a distinct branch of the KPC known as Kaung Baung Hpyoo, and expressed serious concerns about the intended use of villagers to provide unpaid labour on infrastructure projects that will be implemented by civilian and military officials, as well as the severe degradation of forest and agricultural land due to an expansion of commercial rubber plantations..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-03-16
Date of entry/update: 2012-04-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...Pho Phyu estimates that since the new government took office in March last year some 10,000 acres of farmland have been seized in Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions alone. ?Under the new law, millions of acres that have been seized by big companies will legally belong to them, and not the farmers,? says Pho Phyu. Amid a tide of optimism, this is a dark area which some, such as Pho Phyu, believe is not only not progressing but could get worse. It covers the 70 percent of Burma?s work force and their families who are small-scale farmers. A majority who will not be affected by the easing of Internet restrictions, or will probably never know that the BBC are now allowed to visit their country. This as part of the government?s reforms to change the economy to a market-orientated system, including the agriculture sector. Former government adviser and economist Khin Maung Nyo corroborates: ?We need to change agriculture into a business.? ..."
Creator/author: Josehp Allchin
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-02-03
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "A VISITING land expert has warned against falling for the ?dominant model” of land grabbing, which sees small-scale farmers replaced by agri-businesses that are in many cases less productive. Mr Robin Palmer, who has worked on land issues for more than 35 years as both an academic and for British NGO Oxfam, said last week that population pressures and the increasing consumption of meat and dairy products in developing countries were often used to justify plantation farming, with peasant farmers and traditional pastoralists dismissed as ?romantic nonsense”. ?In the context of global land grabbing ? this is the dominant model,” he told The Myanmar Times in Yangon on February 21. ?It?s curious because land has been a source of conflict in many places yet despite that governments are giving it away.” Aside from the social consequences, Mr Palmer, who has worked in Africa, Asia and Latin America, said there was also little evidence that plantation farms were more efficient or productive than smallholdings. This was reinforced at the International Conference on Global Land Grabbing at the University of Sussex?s Institute of Development Studies in April 2011, which featured more than 100 papers on land issues..."
Creator/author: Expert cautions on ‘land grab’ model
Source/publisher: "The Myanmar Times"
2012-02-27
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Northern Burma?s borderlands have undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades. Three main and interconnected developments are simultaneously taking place in Shan State and Kachin State: (1) the increase in opium cultivation in Burma since 2006 after a decade of steady decline; (2) the increase at about the same time in Chinese agricultural investments in northern Burma under China?s opium substitution programme, especially in rubber; and (3) the related increase in dispossession of local communities? land and livelihoods in Burma?s northern borderlands. The vast majority of the opium and heroin on the Chinese market originates from northern Burma. Apart from attempting to address domestic consumption problems, the Chinese government also has created a poppy substitution development programme, and has been actively promoting Chinese companies to take part, offering subsidies, tax waivers, and import quotas for Chinese companies. The main benefits of these programmes do not go to (ex-)poppy growing communities, but to Chinese businessmen and local authorities, and have further marginalised these communities. Serious concerns arise regarding the long-term economic benefits and costs of agricultural development— mostly rubber—for poor upland villagers. Economic benefits derived from rubber development are very limited. Without access to capital and land to invest in rubber concessions, upland farmers practicing swidden cultivation (many of whom are (ex-) poppy growers) are left with few alternatives but to try to get work as wage labourers on the agricultural concessions. Land tenure and other related resource management issues are vital ingredients for local communities to build licit and sustainable livelihoods. Investment-induced land dispossession has wide implications for drug production and trade, as well as border stability. Investments related to opium substitution should be carried out in a more sustainable, transparent, accountable and equitable fashion. Customary land rights and institutions should be respected. Chinese investors should use a smallholder plantation model instead of confiscating farmers land as a concession. Labourers from the local population should be hired rather than outside migrants in order to funnel economic benefits into nearby communities. China?s opium crop substitution programme has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers. Chinese authorities need to reconsider their regional development strategies of implementation in order to avoid further border conflict and growing antagonism from Burmese society. Financing dispossession is not development."
Creator/author: Tom Kramer & Kevin Woods
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
2012-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.67 MB
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Description: "This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in September 2011. The villager interviewed Saw Ca---, a 45-year-old rubber, betelnut and durian plantation owner from Kawkareik Township, Dooplaya District, who described the survey of at least 167 acres of productive and established agricultural land belonging to 26 villagers for the expansion of a Tatmadaw camp, transport infrastructure, and the construction of houses for Tatmadaw soldiers? families. This incident was detailed in the previously-published report, "Land confiscation threatens villagers? livelihoods in Dooplaya District;" as of the beginning of February 2012, a KHRG researcher familiar with the local situation confirmed that the land had not yet been confiscated and that surveys of that land were no longer ongoing. In this interview, Saw Ca--- described the planting of landmines in civilian areas by government and non-state armed groups, and described one incident in which a villager was injured by a landmine during the month before this interview, resulting in the subsequent amputation of part of his leg; Saw Ca--- said that KNLA soldiers had previously informed villagers they had planted landmines in the place where the villager was injured. Saw Ca--- also described an incident in which villagers were forced to wear Tatmadaw uniforms while accompanying troops on active duty, as well as the forced recruitment of villagers by non-state armed groups. Saw Ca--- noted that villagers respond to such abuses and threats to their livelihoods in a variety of ways, including deliberately avoiding attending meetings with Tatmadaw commanders at which they suspect they will be forced to sign over their land."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-02-03
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in May 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Dweh Loh Township, Papun District between January and April 2011. It contains information concerning military activities in 2011, specifically resupply operations by Border Guard and Tatmadaw troops and the reinforcement of Border Guard troops at Manerplaw. It documents twelve incidents of forced portering of military rations in Wa Muh and K?Hter Htee village tracts, including one incident during which villagers used to porter rations were ordered to sweep for landmines, as well as the forced production and delivery of a total of 44,500 thatch shingles by civilians. In response to these abuses, male villagers remove themselves from areas in which troops are conducting resupply operations, in order to avoid arrest and forced portering. This report additionally registers villagers? serious concerns regarding the planting of landmines by non-state armed groups in agricultural workplaces and the proposed development of a new dam on the Bilin River at Hsar Htaw. It includes an overview of gold-mining operations by private companies and non-state armed groups along three rivers in Dweh Loh Township, and documents abuses related to extractive industry, specifically forced relocation and land confiscation."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-09-02
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 627.56 KB
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Description: "This report validates the fact that multi-national and transnational companies are violating the Ta?ang ethnic nationals? fundamental human rights. The confiscation of Ta?ang peoples? land and the exploitation of their natural resources in which they depend for their subsistence and livelihood are outlined in this report. The Myanmar government continues to permit the persistence of business practices which are illegal under national and international laws. Massive displacements take place without the provisions of adequate compensation or relocation, let alone meaningful community consultations that left the affected people with no legal remedy to rebuild their lives and resume their collective activity. The situation of Ta?ang people in the Shan State is a classic example of land confiscation under the pretext of economic development while totally excluding the affected communities on the benefits of ?development? from foreign investment in the country. As a consequence of these activities the Ta?ang people have to bear the brunt of not only losing their land and source of livelihood, but as well as the practice of forced labor by the SPDC against the Ta?ang people. This forced labor facilitates private companies? projects at the expense of the already displaced community. In this situation, the women, children and the elderly are also disproportionately affected. This report lays testament to the sufferings of the Ta?ang people. This wanton violation of Ta?ang ethnic nationals? rights is representative of the emblematic and widespread disregard for the fundamental rights in Myanmar. It is an outright violation of a number of international laws which include the United Nations Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the violation of the International Labor Organisation (1930, No. 29, Article 2.1). It is also a breach on their commitment as UN member state to the UN Declaration on the Right to Development adopted in 1986 and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011). Yet, international and regional intergovernmental body such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is playing deaf and blind in addressing the situation to put an end to these illegal practices. It is hoped that this report could facilitate the necessary steps and concrete action in behalf of the Ta?ang ethnic nationals which are required from the relevant UN agencies, international and regional bodies, international financial institutions, and the bilateral and multi-lateral donor agencies. The stories collected in this report speak for the longstanding issues that beset the Ta?ang S ethnic nationals and the efforts of the Ta?ang Students and Youth Organisation in publishing this report is a very important step in trying to make a significant contribution to change that situation, now and for the generations to come. As this report shows, this situation could not continue as if it is business as usual. There is no way forward but for a multi-level dialogue to take place and agree on an amicable settlement which is in line with the national and international laws. Let this report which underlines concrete recommendations, encourages all concerned international and national stakeholders and the Ta?ang community to come together and agree to implement resolutions in ways that preserve the Ta?ang ethnic nationals? human rights while meeting the challenges of a sustainable economic development in Myanmar."
Source/publisher: Ta?ang (Palaung) Working Group - TSYO, PWO, PSLF
2011-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Format : pdf
Size: 7.74 MB
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Description: "This report validates the fact that multi-national and transnational companies are violating the Ta?ang ethnic nationals? fundamental human rights. The confiscation of Ta?ang peoples? land and the exploitation of their natural resources in which they depend for their subsistence and livelihood are outlined in this report. The Myanmar government continues to permit the persistence of business practices which are illegal under national and international laws. Massive displacements take place without the provisions of adequate compensation or relocation, let alone meaningful community consultations that left the affected people with no legal remedy to rebuild their lives and resume their collective activity. The situation of Ta?ang people in the Shan State is a classic example of land confiscation under the pretext of economic development while totally excluding the affected communities on the benefits of ?development? from foreign investment in the country. As a consequence of these activities the Ta?ang people have to bear the brunt of not only losing their land and source of livelihood, but as well as the practice of forced labor by the SPDC against the Ta?ang people. This forced labor facilitates private companies? projects at the expense of the already displaced community. In this situation, the women, children and the elderly are also disproportionately affected. This report lays testament to the sufferings of the Ta?ang people. This wanton violation of Ta?ang ethnic nationals? rights is representative of the emblematic and widespread disregard for the fundamental rights in Myanmar. It is an outright violation of a number of international laws which include the United Nations Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the violation of the International Labor Organisation (1930, No. 29, Article 2.1). It is also a breach on their commitment as UN member state to the UN Declaration on the Right to Development adopted in 1986 and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011). Yet, international and regional intergovernmental body such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is playing deaf and blind in addressing the situation to put an end to these illegal practices. It is hoped that this report could facilitate the necessary steps and concrete action in behalf of the Ta?ang ethnic nationals which are required from the relevant UN agencies, international and regional bodies, international financial institutions, and the bilateral and multi-lateral donor agencies. The stories collected in this report speak for the longstanding issues that beset the Ta?ang S ethnic nationals and the efforts of the Ta?ang Students and Youth Organisation in publishing this report is a very important step in trying to make a significant contribution to change that situation, now and for the generations to come. As this report shows, this situation could not continue as if it is business as usual. There is no way forward but for a multi-level dialogue to take place and agree on an amicable settlement which is in line with the national and international laws. Let this report which underlines concrete recommendations, encourages all concerned international and national stakeholders and the Ta?ang community to come together and agree to implement resolutions in ways that preserve the Ta?ang ethnic nationals? human rights while meeting the challenges of a sustainable economic development in Myanmar."
Source/publisher: Ta?ang Student and Youth Organization-TSYO
2011-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 802.57 KB
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Description: "In September 2011, residents of Je--- village, Kawkareik Township told KHRG that they feared soldiers under Tatmadaw Border Guard Battalion #1022 and LIBs #355 and #546 would soon complete the confiscation of approximately 500 acres of land in their community in order to develop a large camp for Battalion #1022 and homes for soldiers? families. According to the villagers, the area has already been surveyed and the Je--- village head has informed local plantation and paddy farm owners whose lands are to be confiscated. The villagers reported that approximately 167 acres of agricultural land, including seven rubber plantations, nine paddy farms, and seventeen betelnut and durian plantations belonging to 26 residents of Je--- have already been surveyed, although they expressed concern that more land would be expropriated in the future. The Je--- residents said that the village head had told them rubber plantation owners would be compensated according to the number of trees they owned, but that the villagers were collectively refusing compensation and avoiding attending a meeting at which they worried they would be ordered to sign over their land. The villagers that spoke with KHRG said they believed the Tatmadaw intended to take over their land in October after the end of the annual monsoon, and that this would seriously undermine livelihoods in a community in which many villagers depended on subsistence agriculture on established land. This bulletin is based on information collected by KHRG researchers in September and October 2011, including five interviews with residents of Je--- village, 91 photographs of the area, and a written record of lands earmarked for confiscation."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-10-31
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 452.67 KB
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Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in September 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in T?Nay Hsah Township, Pa?an District during September 2011. It details an incident in which a soldier from Tatmadaw Border Guard #1017 deliberately shot at villagers in a farm hut, resulting in the death of one civilian and injury to a six-year-old child. The report further details the subsequent concealment of this incident by Border Guard soldiers who placed an M16 rifle and ammunition next to the dead civilian and photographed his body, and ordered the local village head to corroborate their story that the dead man was a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier. The report also relates villagers? concerns regarding the use of landmines by both KNLA and Border Guard troops, which prevent villagers from freely accessing agricultural land and kill villagers? livestock and pets, and also relates an incident in September 2011 in which a villager was severely maimed when he stepped on a landmine that had been placed outside his farm."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-11-03
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 218.05 KB
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Description: "The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned by the case of a group of farmers who lodged a complaint about attempts of an army-owned company and the powerful Htoo Company to acquire their land at a greatly undervalued amount. The farmers? complaint was rejected in court on grounds that the land was being acquired for a government project, even though the company is private. After, the company and army officers involved organized for a gang to ambush and attack a group of the farmers and to have a false criminal case lodged against them. The case has gone to court very quickly and it looks as if the court is getting orders to punish the farmers severely as a way to frighten the other farmers to stop opposing the army-backed construction project..."....Land rights; judicial system; fabrication of charges; corruption...
Source/publisher: Asian Human Rights Commission
2011-04-07
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 85.59 KB
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Description: BURMA: Farmers? land fight celebrated in new booklet... (Hong Kong, January 10, 2012) A Burma-based rights group has released a new publication documenting and recounting the courageous fight against land expropriation, intimidation and false prosecution of a group of rural villagers. The 38-page Burmese language booklet, "Forced expropriations of farmlands and partial victories", written and published by the Farmers? Rights Defenders Network, retells the story of the villagers of Sissayan, in Magway, part of the country?s dry central zone, who have been struggling against the attempts of army-backed companies to take over their land for use by factories that will produce toxic substances. The Asian Human Rights Commission issued an urgent appeal in April about an attack and false prosecution of a group of the farmers leading the fight against the army-backed companies in Sissayan: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-073-2011 Although a court convicted the farmers, the village community rallied around them, as told and illustrated through photographs in the new booklet, and on appeal their sentences were reduced to the time already served. အမှာစာ... လယ်ယာမြေအဓမ္မသိမ်းယူမှုများနှင့်အောင်ပွဲအပိုင်းအစများ(မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး၊ သရက်ခရိုင်၊ ကံမမြို့နယ်၊ စစ္စရံကျေးရွာ)... သိမ်းပိုက်ခံလယ်မြေများနှင့် စက်ရုံပြင်ဆင်တည်ဆောက်မှုများ (ဓာတ်ပုံ)... အာဏာပိုင်များအား တရားစွဲဆိုခဲ့သည့် လယ်သမားများ (ဓာတ်ပုံ)... လယ်သမားအခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ ဟောပြောမှုအား နားထောင်ကြစဉ် (ဓာတ်ပုံ)... ရွာသူရွာသားများ တရားခွင်သို့ စုစည်းညီညွတ်စွာ လိုက်ပါအားပေး နားထောင်ကြ (ဓာတ်ပုံ)... လယ်သမားများ ပြန်လည်လွတ်မြောက်လာမှုကို ဒေသခံပြည်သူများ ကြိုဆိုခဲ့ (ဓာတ်ပုံ)... (ယခုတင်ပြလိုက်သော စာအုပ်ပါအကြောင်းအရာများမှာ လယ်သမားတို့သည် ရိုးသားစွာ လုပ်ကိုင်စားသောက်နေသူများဖြစ်ပြီး မတရားမှုများကို မိမိတို့၏ စုစည်းမှုအားဖြင့် တွန်းလှန်၍ တရားမျှတမှုကို ရှာဖွေတိုက်ပွဲဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် ဖြစ်ရပ်တခုအား စံနမူနာပြုနိုင်ရေးကို ရည်ရွယ်၍ ထုတ်ဝေဖြန့်ချိလိုက်ခြင်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။)
Source/publisher: Farmers? Rights Defenders Network/ လယ်သမားအခွင့်အရေးကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်သူများကွန်ယက်
2012-01-10
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 479.37 KB
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Description: "Since a new quasi-parliamentary government led by former army officers began work in Burma (Myanmar) earlier this year, some observers have argued that the government is showing a commitment to bring about, albeit cautiously, reforms that will result in an overall improvement in human rights conditions. The question remains, though, as to whether the new government constitutes the beginning of a real shift from the blinkered despotism of its predecessors to a new form of government, or simply to a type of semi-enlightened and market-oriented despotism, the sort of which has been more common in Asia than the type of outright military domination experienced by Burma for most of the last half-century. "
Source/publisher: Asian Human Rights Commission
2011-12-10
Date of entry/update: 2011-12-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 457.43 KB
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Description: 1.Introduction: 1.1 Purpose of Discussion Paper... 2.Background History: 2.1 Ethnic Politics and Military Interference... 3.land tenure legislation (1948-62): 3.1 Earlier a brief period of Democracy (1948-1962) 3.2 Under BSBP rule (1962-1988) 3.3 Under Military uling (1988-Up to now)... 4. Socio-Economicpoverty and lnd Ownership... 5. Summary of Findings... 6.Analysis of Findings... 7. Militarization and land Confiscation... 8. No rights to a fair Market price and food sovereignty... 9. Abusing the Environment and natural resources... 10. new poverty due to illegal Tax Payment
Creator/author: Khaing Dhu Wan
Source/publisher: Network for Enviroment and Economic Development (NEED)
2006-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-09-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Summary: "A bitter land struggle is unfolding in northern Burma?s remote Hugawng Valley. Farmers that have been living for generations in the valley are defying one of the country?s most powerful tycoons as his company establishes massive mono-crop plantations in what happens to be the world?s largest tiger reserve. The Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in Kachin State was declared by the Myanmar* Government in 2001 with the support of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society. In 2004 the reserve?s designation was expanded to include the entire valley of 21,890 square kilometers (8,452 square miles), making it the largest tiger reserve in the world. Today a 200,000 acre mono-crop plantation project is making a mockery of the reserve?s protected status. Fleets of tractors, backhoes, and bulldozers rip up forests, raze bamboo groves and fl atten existing small farms. Signboards that mark animal corridors and ?no hunting zones” stand out starkly against a now barren landscape; they are all that is left of conservation efforts. Application of chemical fertilizers and herbicides together with the daily toil of over two thousand imported workers are transforming the area into huge tapioca, sugar cane, and jatropha plantations. In 2006 Senior General Than Shwe, Burma?s ruling despot, granted the Rangoon-based Yuzana Company license to develop this ?agricultural development zone” in the tiger reserve. Yuzana Company is one of Burma?s largest businesses and is chaired by U Htay Myint, a prominent real estate tycoon who has close connections with the junta. Local villagers tending small scale farms in the valley since before it was declared a reserve have seen their crops destroyed and their lands confi scated. Confl icts between Yuzana Company employees, local authorities, and local residents have fl ared up and turned violent several times over the past few years, culminating with an attack on residents of Ban Kawk village in 2010. As of February 2010, 163 families had been forced into a relocation site where there is little water and few fi nished homes. Since then, through further threats and intimidation, * The current military regime changed the country?s name to Myanmar in 1989 1 others families have been forced to take ?compensation funds” which are insuffi cient to begin a new life and leave them destitute. Despite the powerful interests behind the Yuzana project, villagers have been bravely standing up to protect their farmlands and livelihoods. They have sent numerous formal appeals to the authorities, conducted prayer ceremonies, tried to reclaim their fi elds, refused to move, and defended their homes. The failure of various government offi cials to reply to or resolve the problem fi nally led the villagers to reach out to the United Nations and the National League for Democracy in Burma. In March 2010 representatives of three villages fi led written requests to the International Labor Organization to investigate the actions of Yuzana. In July 2010, over 100 farmers opened a joint court case in Kachin State. Although the villagers in Yuzana?s project area have been ignored at every turn, they remain determined to seek a just solution to the problems in Hugawng. As Burma?s military rulers prepare for their 2010 ?election,” local residents hold no hope for change from a new constitution that only legalizes the status quo and the military?s placement above the law. Companies such as Yuzana that have close military connections are set to play an increasing role in the economy and will also remain above the law. The residents of Hugawng Valley are thus at the frontline of protecting not only their own lands and environment but also the rights of all of Burma?s farmers. The Kachin Development Networking Group stands fi rmly with these communities and therefore calls on Yuzana to stop their project implementation to avoid any further citizens? rights abuses and calls on all Kachin communities and leaders to work together with Hugawng villagers in their brave struggle."
Source/publisher: Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG)
2010-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English and the other EU languages
Format : pdf
Size: 2.58 MB
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Description: "At night the Shweli has always sung sweet songs for us. But now the nights are silent and the singing has stopped. We are lonely and wondering what has happened to our Shweli?" ... "Exclusive photos and testimonies from a remote village near the China-Burma border uncover how Chinese dam builders are using Burma Army troops to secure Chinese investments. Under the Boot, a new report by Palaung researchers, details the implementation of the Shweli Dam project, China?s first Build-Operate-Transfer hydropower deal with Burma?s junta. Since 2000, the Palaung village of Man Tat, the site of the 600 megawatt dam project, has been overrun by hundreds of Burmese troops and Chinese construction workers. Villagers have been suffering land confiscation, forced labour, and restriction on movement ever since, and a five kilometer diversion tunnel has been blasted through the hill on which the village is situated. Photos in the report show soldiers carrying out parade drills, weapons assembly, and target practice in the village. "This Chinese project has been like a sudden military invasion. The villagers had no idea the dam would be built until the soldiers arrived," said Mai Aung Ko from the Palaung Youth Network Group (Ta?ang), which produced the report. Burma?s Ministry of Electric Power formed a joint venture with Yunnan Joint Power Development Company, a consortium of Chinese companies, to build and operate the project. Electricity generated will be sent to China and several military-run mining operations in Burma. As the project nears completion, plans are underway for two more dams on the Shweli River, a tributary of the Irrawaddy..."
Source/publisher: Palaung Youth Network Group
2007-12-03
Date of entry/update: 2007-12-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese, Chinese
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