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.

Introduction: "The following report has been compiled to bring to the attention of a wider
audience many of the problems facing the people of Burma, especially its many
ethnic nationalities. For many outside observers, Burma’s problems are confined
simply to the ongoing incarceration of Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
the country’s democratically elected leader, and many other political prisoners.
However, as we hope to show in the following report, this is only one of very

This Incident Report describes the confiscation of villagers’ land committed by Border Guard Force (BGF) Cantonment Area Commander Kya Aye, who oversees Battalion #1015 and Battalion #1016, and Cantonment Area Supervisor U Kyaw Hein on May 1st 2015. They then resold the land to the Steel Stone Group to be used for road construction and infrastructure development. The villagers reported the incident to the Karen National Union (KNU) requesting compensation for their land and calling for restrictions on the BGF commanders’ power.

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

Shwe Pipeline Brings Land Confiscation, Militarization and Human Rights Violations to the Ta’ang People.
The Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization (TSYO) released a report today called “Pipeline Nightmare” that illustrates how the Shwe Gas and Oil Pipeline project, which will transport oil and gas across Burma to China, has resulted in the confiscation of people’s lands, forced labor, and increased military presence along the pipeline, affecting thousands of people.

Conclusion: "The Thilawa SEZ project is not clearly described and important information is missing
throughout the EIA document. The public consultation process did not involve all relevant
stakeholders, including affected communities, and did not provide sufficient information
in any case. Consequently, the consultation process did not meet international standards
and did not meet relevant JICA Guidelines. Had JICA provided adequate and appropriate
support for the EIA according to its Guidelines, it could have assured that the project

Conclusions: "Amnesty International’s latest research shows that hundreds of people close to the giant Letpadaung mine continue to face the risk of forced eviction from their farmland, and in the case of four villages, from their homes as well. In addition, thousands of people living in the area are at risk from Myanmar Wanbao’s inadequate management of environmental risk at the Letpadaung mine, which is situated in a flood and earthquake-prone area. The ESIA for the mine contains fundamental gaps and weaknesses, which Myanmar Wanbao has still not addressed.

Synopsis of the Paper:
"It is most fundamental to be able to hear voices of farmers as they are in resolving farm land
problems which pose the greatest challenge to Myanmar. Therefore, it is expected that the
"Voice From The Farm" paper will be supportive to a certain extent. This paper was compiled
based on cases that reached the office of 88 Generation Peace and Open Society from
respective region and reinforced with discussions resulting from the VOICE OF
FARMERprogramme which collects and organizes farmers' voices as well as with observations

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.

Land confiscation is one of the leading causes of protest
and unrest in Burma, having led to the forced
displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in
recent years. It also undermines Burma’s fragile peace
processes...
•The 2008 constitution and subsequent laws are used
to
legitimize arbitrary land confiscation, deny access
to
justice, and perpetuate an environment of impunity...
•
Land confiscation for profitable large-scale development
and commercial projects enrich the military, state-
owned

Contains introduction, 3 farms – the beginnings of land expropriation in Namibia; the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act 6 of 1995; the process of land reform in Namibia; the resettlement programme revisited; farm workers and resettlement; conclusions and recommendations. Argues that Namibia has to reconceptualise its agrarian model because the present land reform programme is setting impoverished black farmers up to fail.

Looks at land tax, land expropriation, foreign ownership, the National Resettlement Programme and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme, case studies, and donor support in the land-reform process. Concludes with recommendations on expropriation, farm workers, sustainability of resettlement projects, gender issues, skills sharing and training.