Sandar Maw

Human Rights Watch criticises slow progress in resolving land grabs

YANGON — US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch has criticised slow progress in addressing historic land grabs, which continue to leave large numbers of people destitute, and inadequate legal reform in protecting land tenure. The 33-page report, “Nothing for Our Land: Impact of Land Confiscation on Farmers in Myanmar,” released on 17 July, acknowledged the formidable challenges of remedying a history of arbitrary land seizures by the government, military, armed groups and private companies since 1988, when army-backed socialism gave way to privatisation. A string of committees set up at various administrative levels by both the current and previous governments have been inundated by tens of thousands of complaints, and have had to mediate the claims of original owners, long-term tenants, and private owners who, owing to multiple transfers, may have thought they were purchasing land legitimately. At a press conference in Yangon, Richard Weir, a researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, described the problem as urgent, with chronic landlessness prompting large numbers to go abroad for work every year and causing children leave school early. Several dozen farmers from Shan State and Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions said during interviews that the loss of their lands had ruined their…