This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in September 2012 by a community member describing events occurring in Dooplaya District, during September 2012. Specifically detailed is the situation and location of armed groups (Tatmadaw, DKBA and BGF); the villagers’ situation and opinions of the KNLA; and development projects in the area.

Key developments since May 2001: Myanmar?s military has continued laying landmines inside the country and along its borders with Thailand. As part of a new plan to ?fence the country,? the Coastal Region Command Headquarters gave orders to its troops from Tenasserim division to lay mines along the Thai-Burma border. Three rebel groups, not previously identified as mine users, were discovered using landmines in 2002: Pao People?s Liberation Front, All Burma Muslim Union and Wa National Army. Thirteen rebel groups are now using mines.

Mine Ban Treaty status:

Not a State Party...

Stockpile:

Unknown...

Contamination:

APMs; some AVMs and ERW...

Estimated area of contamination:

Extensive...

Demining progress in 2006:

None reported...

MRE capacity:

Increased but remains inadequate...

Mine/ERW casualties in 2006:

Total: 243 (2005: 231)...

Mines: 232 (2005: 231):

Unknown devices: 11 (2005: 0)...

Casualty analysis:

Killed: 20 (2 civilians, 2 children, 6 military,

10 unknown) (2005: 5);

... In February 2011 media outlets worldwide reported that China had surpassed Thailand as the largest foreign investor in Myanmar.1 China had US$8.25 billion of approved investment in fiscal year 2010–11 (which in Myanmar runs April to March), all for projects in the extractive and power sectors.

Mine Ban Treaty status:

Not a State Party...

Use:

Government and NSAG use continued in 2007 and 2008....

Stockpile:

Unknown...

Contamination:

Antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, ERW...

Estimated area of contamination:

Extensive...

Demining progress in 2007:

None reported...

Mine/ERW casualties in 2007:

Total: 438 (2006: 243);

Mines: 409 (2006: 232);

Unknown: 29 (2006: 11)...

Casualty analysis:

Killed: 47 (2006: 20);

Injured: 338 (2006: 223);

This report by Green November 32 in 1993 was the first ever NGO perspective report written on the Yadana gas pipeline and on the border dams as they were first discussed by Thai and Burmese governments around that time. It was actually one of the first detailed reports on any of the post 1988 environmental issues by any Burmese- or border- based organisation, and is of particular interest in the light of the current opposition to the Irrawaddy dam projects...

Executive Summary"
"A scramble for natural gas presently unfolding in western Burma is poised to provide the ruling military junta with its single largest source of income. The sale of the gas, mainly to regional neighbours, will further entrench the junta, insulating it from international pressure. The country's already abysmal human rights situation is set to worsen.

Active in promoting mining in Burma. "The Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ) is a semigovernmental
organization under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry and the main organization that executes the
Japanese Government's policies related to the mining industry. Since
its establishment in 1963, the Agency has been conducting various
exploration operations for mineral resources both within and outside
Japan, and other worldwide activities, such as technical cooperation in

This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during September 2011 in Lu Pleh Township, Pa'an District by a community member trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The community member interviewed Saw Bw---, a 25-year-old logger from Eg--- village, who described events that occurred while he was carrying out logging work between the villages of A--- and S---.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Burma today is experiencing a crisis in security of land tenure, which includes the widespread abuse of human, economic, social, cultural, and political rights. This report, Displacement and Dispossession: Forced Migration and Land Rights in Burma focuses on land confiscation by Government forces, responsible for Burma’s most acute Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights abuses. Among the most vulnerable populations are more than one million internally displaced people in Burma, most from ethnic nationality communities.

The following incident report was written by a community member who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights abuses. It describes an incident involving four villagers at A---, including two home guard members and their relatives, as they were trying to covertly cross a Tatmadaw-controlled road near See Day army camp. Two home guard villagers, Saw M--- and Saw W---, were shot by Tatmadaw soldiers, resulting in the death of Saw M--- and injuring Saw W---.

The Myanmar Information Management Unit [UN MIMU] has released two maps which show townships with a known hazard due to the presence of antipersonnel mines, and the number of victims per township in 2010-2011.
This is the third map produced in a collaboration between MIMU in Yangon and Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor, since 2009.