The Financial and Fiscal Commission (the Commission) undertook a study into the land reform programme. Part of the problem is that land reform is framed within the narrow confines of agriculture and does not take into account the inherent sectoral challenges. The survey results show the land reform programme’s lack of success is illustrated by the drastic decrease in production since land was transferred.

African universities have a key role to play in developing technical and human capacities to support land policy development and implementation, according to experts attending a two-day meeting to validate a study on ‘Land, Ethnicity and Conflict in Africa’, held last month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This photo set includes 49 still photographs selected from images taken by a KHRG community member between January and April 2012. They were taken in K'Ser Doh Township, Mergui-Tavoy District, and show images of a dam project in A'Nyah Pyah, logging in A'Nya Pyah, U Yay Kyee and Htee Ler Klay villages and mining operations in Hkay Ta Hpoo that have caused a variety of problems for the villagers in the in the areas, such as loss of land from flooding and water pollution.

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in May 2013 by a community member describing events occurring in Papun District mostly between March 2012 and March 2013, and also provides details on abuses since 2006. The report specifically describes incidents of forced labour, theft, logging, land confiscation and gold mining. The situation update describes military activity from August 2012 to January 2013, specifically Tatmadaw soldiers from Infantry Battalion (IB) #96 ordering villagers to make thatch shingles and cut bamboo.

This news bulletin describes two landmine incidents occurring in February and June 2013 in Mone Township, Nyaunglebin District. On February 2nd 2013, 22-year-old Saw H--- from S--- village was walking home after collecting firewood in Maw Lay Forest when he stepped on a landmine, sustaining temporary injuries to his leg. On June 1st, 45-year-old Maung W--- stepped on a landmine at Chauck Kway. The landmine shrapnel caused major damage to his left leg, and it was amputated as a result.

We are at a critical juncture in our history, more promising than at any time in recent memory. The country will have a civilian-majority government that came to office through the votes of a multitude of smaller nationality groups for a pan-national party promising political change. If this political transition is to succeed, poverty must be alleviated, corruption curtailed, drug abuse radically reduced, and a host of other social crises addressed that have long blighted our country.

Oil, gas and mineral revenues are generated in nearly every state and region in Myanmar, with the most important interests lying in Bago, Kachin, Magway, Mandalay, Sagaing, Shan and Tanintharyi. In these and other regions, petroleum and mining activities have had significant impacts on livelihoods in affected communities, and on the local environment. There is also a perceived lack of benefits from extraction accruing to local populations.

...The research presented in this discussion paper
by Thet Aung Lynn and Mari Oye provides an
overview of the current role of subnational government in natural resource management and
revenue collection in Myanmar. Natural resources provide a large share of government revenue, and
there is potential for growth in these sectors in coming years. The government under President
Thein Sein has made reform of
the
natural resource management system a
priority, and the topic

Three Western oil companies -- Total, Premier and Unocal -- bent on exploiting natural gas , entered partnerships with the brutal Burmese military regime. Since the early 1990's, a terrible drama has been unfolding in Burma. Three western oil companies -- Total, Premier, and Unocal -- entered into partnerships with the brutal Burmese miltary regime to build the Yadana and Yetagun natural gas pipelines.

Key developments March 1999-May 2000: Government forces and at least ten ethnic armed groups continue to lay
antipersonnel landmines in significant numbers. Landmine Monitor estimates there were approximately 1,500 new mine victims in 1999. The Committee Representing the People's Parliament endorsed the Mine Ban Treaty in January 2000."
Includes chart of Ethnic Political Organizations with Armed Wings in Burma.

This News Bulletin describes the proposed construction of a portion of the Asia Highway from Eindu to Kawkareik Town, crossing 17 different villages and one town in Hpa-an, Kyonedoe and Kawkareik townships in Dooplaya and Hpa-an districts. The Burma/Myanmar government has demarcated the route and plans to construct the road with funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The planning of the project has thus far been carried out with little consultation with local communities, who remain suspicious of such projects.

This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during August 2011 by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw T---, a 74 year-old Buddhist village head who described the planting of what he estimated to be about 100 landmines by government and non-state armed groups in the vicinity of his village.