The new wave of land deals is not the new investment in
agriculture that millions had been waiting for. The poorest people
are being hardest hit as competition for land intensifies. Oxfam’s
research has revealed that residents regularly lose out to local
elites and domestic or foreign investors because they lack the
power to claim their rights effectively and to defend and advance
their interests. Companies and governments must take urgent
steps to improve land rights outcomes for people living in poverty.

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

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
-
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

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

This report, authored by leading land experts, is the culmination of a three-year research project that brought together forty members and partners of ILC to examine the characteristics, drivers and impacts and trends of rapidly increasing commercial pressures on land.

The report strongly urges models of investment that do not involve large-scale land acquisitions, but rather work together with local land users, respecting their land rights and the ability of small-scale farmers themselves to play a key role in investing to meet the food and resource demands of the future.

This report consists of an Introduction and Executive Summary, followed by a detailed analysis of the situation supported by quotes from interviews and excerpts from SPDC order documents sent to villages in the region. As mentioned above, an Annex to this report containing the full text of the remaining interviews can be seen by following the link from the table of contents or from KHRG upon approved request..."

Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya Distric

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...

A site with a large number of links to resources, including the papers of the 2011 International Conference on Global Land Grabbing..."FAC has been exploring what needs to be done to get different forms of agriculture – food/cash crops, livestock/pastoralism, smallholdings/contract farming/large holdings – moving on a track of increasing productivity and competitiveness.

[India Act, 1908] (1st January, 1909)-- selected articles