Myanmar at the HLP Crossroads: - Displacement Solutions

Myanmar at the HLP Crossroads 6lation in Myanmar’ in July 2012, is available at: www.displacementsolutions.org. Almost daily, media reports in boththe Myanmar and English language press carry stories of new cases of land grabbing in all corners of the country.While no national figures exist as to the scale of the land grabs carried out, several state/divisional-level studies ofthe problem have been prepared which estimate that over 1.5 million acres during the last 20 years have been lost toland concessions and grabbing that, in turn, has led to mass dislocation of farming families, often ending in landlessness.(5) In addition, there is abundant evidence of widespread HLP speculation in both rural and urban areas, partiallyas a result of the large-scale sell-off of public assets prior to the 2010 elections, and which has had a considerableimpact on distorting both land and housing prices, as well as encouraging organized land invasions designed solelyas a manipulative means of acquiring compensation and related payments from those intending to develop the landconcerned, in particular government agencies. It is hoped that the recently established Parliamentary Committee onLand will provide an institutional means for addressing these serious challenges. (6)BOX 2:Experts Warn About LandProblems in MyanmarMany important expert voices have joined those of local people inurging the new Government to take a more nuanced view on the landlegislation process:Joseph Stiglitz (Feb 2012) “The land laws under discussion in theParliament will be very problematic if not right for the country. Thedraft laws require further discussion and analysis: “So right now thereis discussion of the land reform and it is absolutely essential to havea land law but on the other hand, if it is not the right law, it could reallybe very, very troublesome. […] It is important to have widespread civilsociety discussion of these laws, that it is transparent, and a lot ofeconomic analysis […].”Human Rights Watch (Feb 2012) “There are growing problems inBurma with land confiscation and inadequate compensation, particularlyfor farmers. Burma should enact new land laws that provide securityof land tenure for people, particularly small-scale farmers, andmeet international human rights standards. Currently farmers cannotuse land as collateral since they do not have legal land titles, creatingeconomic hardship and rendering them vulnerable to forced eviction.…Too much authority appears to rest with farmland managementbodies controlled by the state, including powers to order what can becultivated on particular land…. Land reform should be undertakentogether with other legal reforms to ensure access to justice whenrights are violated.”Photo by Andrew Scherer / Displacement SolutionsNew York Times (June 2012) “Myanmar’s laws, institutions andregulations have kept the country’s farmers, who till some of the mostfertile earth in Asia, among the poorest people on the continent.Among the most needed legal and institutional reforms is providingMyanmar’s farmers with secure rights to the land they till.”(5) “Government data show that the amount of land transferred to private companies increased by as much as 900 percent from the mid-1990sto mid-2000s and now totals roughly 5 percent of Myanmar’s agricultural land.” (Roy Prosterman and Darryl Vhugen, ‘Land to the Tillers ofMyanmar’, NY Times (13 June 2012).(6) “Reps ignore ministry on land-grab committee” (Soe Than Lynn) in The Myanmar Times, July 30 – August 05, 2012. See also, DisplacementSolutions’ Guidance Note on Developing Policy Options for Addressing Land Grabbing and Speculation in Myanmar of July 2012.