Myanmar at the HLP Crossroads: - Displacement Solutions

23Myanmar at the HLP CrossroadsThe new HLP law should include incentives for social developers to build affordable housing invarious locations in both Yangon and Mandalay and approve urban expansion planning measures.Given the general lack of comprehensive planning or zoning, as well as technical mapping, urban expansion planningmeasures under a new transparent, consultative and standardized approach should be commenced quicklyas a means of helping to relieve pressure on urban core land prices and speculation. Developing an urban planningsystem in Yangon by the local Government could assist in building a planning framework far more beneficialto the urban poor. Every effort should be made to promote measures of community-led urban development planningto ensure that democratic processes also guide the growth of the urban areas in the country.The new HLP law will need to explicitly prevent arbitrary eviction and standardize methods for compensationfor use or expropriation, in the exceptional event that land needs to be compulsorily acquired.Although compensation is commonly paid to those subjected to expropriation measures, consistent standards arenot yet in place, which creates conditions ripe for either the non-payment of compensation and arbitrary standardsof reparation. A new standardized system needs to be put in place so that the people of Myanmar can beassured that decisions about expropriation are made solely in the public interest and for public purposes, thatcompensation amounts reflect uniform standards for determining value throughout the country and that the decisionsare made by neutral, unbiased parties and can be reviewed by an independent judiciary. (14)5.3 RECOMMENDATION 3:ACTIVELY ADDRESS LAND GRABBING, SPECULATION AND DISPLACEMENTTHROUGH ADDITIONAL POLICY AND LEGAL REFORMSThere is nothing inevitable or inherent about the inequitable acquisition and concentration of ever-larger quantitiesof land in fewer and fewer hands. Indeed, Governments wishing to protect the HLP rights of rural and urbandwellers and properly regulate the land acquisition process can succeed in reducing the prevalence of land grabbingand speculation, improve the human rights prospects of current landholders and ultimately strengthen bothdemocratic processes and macro-economic perspectives. HLP rights need to be conferred as soon as possibleon all dwellers as a means of protecting their existing land holdings and right to remain. Regulations can be developedto subject all development and land-based investment projects to oversight, with permission to acquire tobe denied if land grabbing was involved in the procurement of the land concerned. Indeed, enforceable legalprocedures for revoking unlawfully acquired land should be established in the near term. Land grabbing needsto treated as a form of corruption and prevented through additional measures such as requiring proof of occupationor use that shows clear long-term control. Land grabbing also needs to be penalized through fines and otherpenalties, depriving the perpetrators of the right to acquire additional land and other measures.Declare a Moratorium on Arbitrary Forced Displacement leading to the eventual abolition of the practice.When land grabbing and speculation are tolerated, these practices all too often result in human rights violations,including forced evictions and displacement, loss of HLP rights, landlessness and dispossession. These practicesare brutal, ruin lives and are difficult to reverse in a fair and just manner. In a country based on the rule oflaw and guided by principles of equality and natural justice, these practices need to be prevented to the maximumpossible extent, and laws and policies are needed to protect HLP ownership and user rights as a means ofpreventing new forms of displacement and dispossession.Proper forms of protecting HLP rights, increasing levels of security of tenure and developing the administrativeand judicial remedies required to secure these rights are vital components in any effective HLP framework.Measures should be taken to protect slum dwellers rights and those potentially affected by resource extraction(14) The President recently announced the creation of a ‘Land Allocation and Utilisation Scrutiny Committee for Urban Development Projects andInvestment Projects.’ See, ‘Activists Call for Adherence to Land Policy’ in Myanmar Times, 25 June 2012. No details about the Committee, itsmembership, its standards or its mandate have yet been announced, so it remains to be seen whether the creation of the Committee will improvethe current approach to land use decision-making and compensation.