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 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.

Ramree Island, Myanmar - Zaw Myint looked quizzical as he sniffed a handful of grey sludge. He had just pulled the mud up from the bottom of an oil well he's digging on Myanmar's impoverished western coastline, hoping for the sweet whiff of black gold.

"The money I get working here is good," Zaw Myint said, standing in a shallow pool of water that glistened with the sheen of oil.

Modern mine warfare began in 1969, and over the past thirty years mine pollution has increased
greatly. Today mines are being laid on a near daily basis by both government forces and several
armed ethnic groups. The military government of Burma, formerly known as the State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC), now calls itself the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC).

Key developments since May 2000: Myanmar government forces
and at least eleven ethnic armed groups continue to lay antipersonnel
mines in significant numbers. The governments of Bangladesh and
Thailand both protested use of mines by Myanmar forces inside their
respective countries. In a disturbing new development, mine use is
alleged to be taking place under the direction of loggers and narcotics
traffickers, as well as by government and rebel forces.

Ivanhoe Mines, a Canadian-based company whose operations in Burma have recently come under renewed scrutiny following the release of a report by a mining watchdog group, has come out in defense of its Burmese business partners, the ruling SPDC

A report on mining in Burma. The problems mining is bringing to the Burmese people, and the multinational companies involved in it. Includes an analysis of the SLORC 1994 Mining Law.... 'Grave Diggers, authored by world renowned mining environmental activist Roger Moody, was the first major review of mining in Burma since the country's military regime opened the door to foreign mining investment in 1994.

Die Militär-Junta von Myanmar (Burma) strebt vermutlich nach der Atombombe. Während die ganze Welt auf den Iran schaut, gehen in Myanmar Veränderungen vor, die das Schlimmste befürchten lassen: Neu entdeckte Erdgasreserven machen das Land zu einem der wichtigsten Gaslieferanten in Asien. China kooperiert militärisch und wirtschaftlich mit Myanmar, Russland will zivile Nukleartechnik liefern und über Kontakte zu Nordkorea wird gemunkelt. US-Sanktionen, sino-burmesisches Verhältnis, sowjetisch-burmesisches Verhältnis; Außenpolitik;

Landmines are weapons that kill and maim indiscriminately, whether it be civilians, soldiers, elderly people, women, children or
animals. They cause injury and death long after the official end of a war. Contrary to trends in the rest of the world, rather than
reduce or abolish the use of landmines, the SPDC has actually increased production of anti-personnel landmines and at least in
the case of the Burma-Bangladesh border, is actively maintaining minefields. In Asia, Burma is currently second only to

Use the drop-down menu of the Database Search. Click on Landmines.

To mark International Mine Awareness Day, Karen Human Rights Group published new data collected by community members in eastern Burma that describes the ongoing devastation caused by landmines. Each year the United Nations International Mine Awareness Day draws attention to the global impact of landmines and notes progress towards their eradication.