The State Law and Order Restoration Council Law No. 5/95 -
The 6th Waxing of Kason, 1357 ME. -
4 May 1995

Burma is situated in Southeastern Asia, bordering Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. The
majority of its population lives in rural areas and depends on land as a primary means of livelihood.
Because all land in Burma ultimately belongs to the state, citizens and organizations depend upon use
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rights, but do not own land.
Burma’s laws grant women equal rights i
n some respects and also recognize certain customary laws that
provide women equal rights in relation to land. In practice, however, the rights of many women are

It is estimated that the overall number of Burmese migrants in Thailand is somewhere in between 800,000 and one million.
Cross-border migration into Thailand has steadily increased in recent years. Since the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Thais
have gone to work abroad. Refugees from Burma, Laos and Cambodia have since filled this labour shortage in Thailand.
However, many of them are undocumented, illegal workers and thus constitute the most vulnerable section of the work force.

This note is meant to serve as a quick reference for local authorities and NGOs to
acquire an understanding of relevant land laws and the context of land-use in
Myanmar. All land and all natural resources in Myanmar, above and below the ground,
above and beneath the water, and in the atmosphere is ultimately owned by the Union of
Myanmar. Although the socialist economic system was abolished in 1988, the existing Land
Law and Directions were not changed in parallel, and thus these are still in use today in

Testimony of Marco Simons to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission:
"This submission describes the emerging landscape as U.S. businesses reengage in Burma and
identifies specific human rights concerns associated with current and prospective corporate
activities in Burma (Myanmar). A number of companies, including General Electric, have
already invested in Burma, and U.S. oil supermajors are considering participation in upcoming
auctions for oil blocks. Increased foreign investment has already been linked to large-scale

Myanmar's natural resources include gems, industrial minerals, oil, and offshore natural gas reserves estimated at 10 trillion cubic feet. The extractive sector accounted for 39 percent of exports in 2010, yet despite its mineral wealth, Myanmar is one of the least developed nations in the world. Its extractive industries are infamously opaque. In the April 2012 elections, the main opposition party won seats in the parliament, a development that could lead to improved transparency...

...In February and March 2002 Amnesty International interviewed some 100 migrants from
Myanmar at seven different locations in Thailand. They were from a variety of ethnic groups,
including the Shan; Lahu; Palaung; Akha; Mon; Po and Sgaw Karen; Rakhine; and Tavoyan
ethnic minorities, and the majority Bamar (Burman) group. They originally came from the Mon,
Kayin, Shan, and Rakhine States, and Bago, Yangon and Tanintharyi Divisions.(1) What follows
below is a summary of human rights violations in some parts of eastern Myanmar during the last

Provisional English title.

Provisional English title.

...with increasing frequency, land is taken from farmers, often with little or no compensation. Large swathes of farmland have already been made available to foreign-based companies in a process that appears to be accelerating. Government data show that the amount of land transferred to private companies increased by as much as 900 percent from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s and now totals roughly 5 percent of Myanmar’s agricultural land...

Myanmar may soon face a land conflict epidemic as a result of the growing influx of investments and
the consequent demand for land, unless laws and policies that adequately address land rights issues
are urgently adopted and implemented.
The Myotha Industrial Park typifies Myanmar’s current economic development model, which seeks
to incentivize investment in areas designated as “least developed.” The Myotha Industrial Park,
developed by the Burmese company Mandalay Myotha Industrial Development (MMID) in Ngazun