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Minority Rights in Ethnic States of Burma

According to the new constitution, Burma is divided into 7 Burman dominated Divisions and another 7 ethnic States for Kachin, Karen, Chin, Shan, Karenni, Mon, and Arakanese areas with some special ethnic regions for the Wa and others.  Although the recent military regime pretended to form an ethnic Union of Burma, a real union would provide equal rights to all ethnic nationalities in the country. Read more

Authorities in Ye Township seize land ostensible for community development; development remains absent

HURFOM, Feb.28.2011, Southern Ye Township: Residents in Southern Ye Township, Mon State, are facing efforts by local village headmen and staff, to seize farmlands owned by local residents. These are being ostensibly sold for raising funds for community development. Residents whose land is has already been seized describe being upset and explain the effort as a ploy to provide extra income for the village head and staff. They also note that none of the promises of community development or public services have been met. While residents whose lands has been taken reported the seizer to District and Township authorities, no response has yet occurred. This seizure appears to signify a growing trend in which land seizure under the guise of community and economic development is on the rise.[1] Read more

Students and their parents were disappointed by teachers’ demands

WCRP: In Mon State, Ye township, the teachers from No (1) the Basic Education Middle School, often charged money from their students. Not only the students but also their parents are penniless and unable to give teachers money.

Face with their own poverty, at the age of about 35 years old, one of the parents said – Read more

HURFOM Welcomes the UN Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes in Burma

In the past, over 10 years ago, when the International Labor Organization (ILO) set up a ‘Commission of Inquiry’ to investigate the use of slave labor and forced labor, HURFOM was newly formed. HURFOM offered a lot of support by bringing the victims to the ILO Commission of Inquiry to provide facts and testimony during the investigation. The ILO got many detailed accounts, information, and strong evidence on the use of forced labor during the construction of the Ye to Tavoy railway and road, and later on the ILO was able to intervene to stop the use of forced labor in Burma. Read more

Like birds in a cage: Impacts of continued conflict on civilian populations in Kyainnseikyi and Three Pagodas area

Summary

While the sudden conflict that erupted on November 7th between the Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and splinter Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) forces drew much attention internationally, and concern from Burma’s ASEAN neighbors, the local impacts from the continuation and even expansion, of this conflict have garnered less attention.. For this months report the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has documented the commission of crimes against humanity and assorted human rights abuses, on local ethnic residents between Kyainnseikyi Township, and Three Pagodas Pass Township, Karen State.

In areas of continued fighting, civilians have suffered from direct exposure to violence, as bystanders to indiscriminate mortar, RPG, and small arms fire, use as forced porters, human shields, human land mine triggers, and physical abuse. Armed groups have also abused civilian communities through theft, extortion, and travel restrictions. Direct exposure to these threats undermines key methods of survival for local communities, who, though capable of addressing normal military presence, face greater threat to safety and live hood with enlarged and aggressive military presence. This uncommon level of disruption must be resolved for communities to ensure their safety and livelihood.Download report as PDF [287KB] Read more

Arbitrary taxation in Pa’an Township burdens phone operators to near breaking point

HURFOM, Pa’an: While fighting continues in Pa’an District, operators of phone services have been experiencing extensive arbitrary taxation by the government run BGF battalions, SPDC forces, and splinter DKBA units. This taxation has been so sever that phone operators are nearly unable to operate their businesses.  As a result these sources of local communication and money transfers are closing down, denying local communities access to communication and a much-needed source of remittance payment from Thailand. Read more

Rock sampling for coal plan spreads fears of land confiscation in Kyaikmayaw Township

Villagers from Kwan Ngai village in Kyaikmayaw have reported extensive testing of rock samples by a private team of geologists, around Pyar Mountain. This testing marks the first step in plans for the construction of a large scale coal mine and refining plant, which is intended to power the Ni Don cement plant, planned less then a mile away. Wide spread land seizer and significant environmental degradation from such heavy industry is likely to destroy the livelihoods and communities around Pyar Mountain. Read more

Kyaikmayaw Township landowners complain after village head illegally sells land to Zaykabar Company

Framers in the Ni Don area, Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State, already contending with the threat of land seizer and paltry compensation by Zaykabar Company Ltd., now report even further losses as the nominal compensation that is handed down has been seized by the local headman who have falsely signed over villager farmland to Zaykabar Company.

The following accounts gathered in mid January, 2011, are interviews taken from Ni Don land owners who have each had land illegally sold to Zaykabar Company without their permission or knowledge by the local headman Ko Kyaw Htun. As a result, Ko Kyaw Tun has been awarded the nominal compensation rate of 350,000 kyat per acre, rather then the land owns[1]. Read more

Land Survey Department research near Tavoy spark fears of impending land confiscation

In early January representatives from the local land-surveying department in Tennaserim Division, visited villages that fall within the project area of Thai-Italian Development Company’s slated Tavoy deep-sea port project. While only preliminary information has been collected, residents see the research as a warning sign of the imminent seizer of their land. Without compensation the livelihoods of Tavoy’s landowners would be destroyed, and already, there are indications that the numbers of residents fleeing the area for migrant work in Thailand, has increased.

On January 8th, 2011, local authorities from the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military government started the collection of ownership lists, of houses, plantations, and paddy fields that are owned by local civilians within the area in which the Tavoy deep-sea port will be constructed. These areas currently visited by local authorities include villages north-west of land already surveyed and designated as the site for the project’s Upstream and Downstream Petrochemical Complex. These visits have caused fear amongst local communities that they will face land confiscation and absent or nominal compensation in the coming months. Communities are not new to the threat, as already so called development projects have seen the loss of villager land to railroad construction in 1995 to 1998 and the Yadana and Yetagun gas pipelines in 1999 to 2003. Read more

‘When I became desperate’: Opinions of residents during forced land acquisition in Kyaikmayaw Township

Introduction

Since the release of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland’s (HURFOM’s) October 2010 report, Waiting In Tears[1], farmers in Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon Sate, have faced increases in pressure to give up freehold land holdings that have been passed down from generation to generation, in order to make way for the construction of several private large scale cement factories and lime stone processing plants.

Throughout the month of December 2010, land owners of Ni Don and Mae Garow villages have faced significant efforts by the development company, Zaykabar Company, and local Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) leaders, to give up their farms. While residents have been offered some tenable opportunity for compensation by Zaykabar Company, the amount offered for compensation is 9 times lower then the estimated value of the per acre price for the land. Zaykabar Company staff and senior leadership have made multiple visits to the area, demanding that residents settle for this degraded price. Additionally, villages have been exhorted by the movie actress Nan Dar Hlaing to sell their land, and were threatened by the local village headman that if they refuse to sell, they would be forced to leave the area. Download report as PDF [467KB]

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