...The objective of this research paper is to describe specific ways in which the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) deprives the people of Burma of their land
and livelihood. Confiscation of land, labour, crops and capital; destruction of person
and property; forced labour; looting and expropriation of food and possessions;
forced sale of crops to the military; extortion of money through official and
unofficial taxes and levies; forced relocation and other abuses by the State...

Situation to the end of 1996

...The main objective of this research is to examine housing, land, and property rights in the context of Burma’s societal transition towards a democratic polity and economy. Much has been written and discussed about property rights in their various manifestations, private, public, collective, and common in terms of “rights”. When property rights are widely and fairly distributed, they are inseparable from the rights of people to a means of living.

Situation to end 1997

This report documents in detail the plight of villagers and the internally displaced in these two
northern Karen regions. Since 1997 the SPDC has destroyed or relocated over 200 villages here,
forcing tens of thousands of villagers to flee into hiding in the hills where they are now being
hunted down and shot on sight by close to 50 SPDC Army battalions. The troops are now
systematically destroying crops, food supplies and farmfields to flush the villagers out of the hills,

...Credible information indicates that the Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed the
property of the Rohingyas, scorched their dwellings and entire villages in northern Rakhine
State, not only to drive the population out in droves but also to prevent the fleeing Rohingya
victims from returning to their homes. The destruction by the Tatmadaw of houses, fields,
food-stocks, crops, livestock and even trees, render the possibility of the Rohingya returning
to normal lives and livelihoods in the future in northern Rakhine almost impossible. It also

Executive summary: "The high incidence of forest conflict in Southeast Asia underscores the need for conflict-transformation tools to maximize
the positive impacts and reduce potential damage. Mediation is considered one of the most effective approaches in
transforming conflict over natural resources. Mediation is often chosen when negotiation between conflict parties fails due
to the complexity and intensity of the conflict and because of unequal negotiating power. It is also chosen when the judicial

Extracts on forced relocation and confiscation of land from the report of the Commission of Inquiry
appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the
International Labour Organization to examine the
observance by Myanmar of the
Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). Though its main focus was forced labour, the Commission of Inquiry also reported other violations of human rights. This
series of customised versions of the report takes a number of these themes. The present document highlights references to

The following Interview was conducted by a community member trained by KHRG to monitor local human rights conditions. It was conducted in Hpapun District on October 12th 2016 and is presented below translated exactly as it was received, save for minor edits for clarity and security.This interview was received along with other information from Hpapun District, including six other interviews and 62 photographs.

Some docs on IDPs in Burma

This Interview with Saw A--- and Saw B--- describes events occurring in Hlaingbwe Township, Hpa-an District before September 2016, including forced labour, forced porters, arbitrary demands and fighting between armed groups.

Between 2014 and 2016, the villagers who live in E--- and F--- villages, Meh Proo village tract, were forced to do forced labour for the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) led by Commander-in-Chief, Kyaw Thet, and Second Commander-in-Chief, Bo Bee.

Burma has a population of 50 million people, recent estimates place 2 million of those people as Internally Displaced
Persons (IDP). They live precarious and transient lives in the jungles of Burma’s ethnic border areas and in the more urban
central plains. They are denied the stability of having a home and a livelihood and are forced into a constant state of
movement: never having the opportunity to maintain a home, their farms, access to education and medical facilities and
peace of mind...