Myanmar at the HLP Crossroads: - Displacement Solutions

33Myanmar at the HLP Crossroadsinterest. In terms of HLP rights, the 1974 Constitution reiterates that the State is the ultimate owner of all naturalresources and also of land; and that it shall develop, extract, exploit and utilize the natural resources. The Constitutionrejected the economic rights that had been protected in the 1947 Constitution. Notably, the Constitutiondoes not stipulate rights to compensation for expropriation of private property, thus establishing a legal frameworkleading inevitably to homelessness and landlessness.Article 22 of the Constitution ensures that all citizens shall “be equal before the law, regardless of race, religion,status, or sex”, “enjoy equal opportunities” and have “the right to inherit according to law”. Article 160 protectsthe privacy and security of home, property, correspondence and other communications of citizens subject tothe Constitution. Article 161 protects every citizen’s income, savings, property and residential buildings lawfullyearned and acquired.After the adoption of the new Constitution, HLP legislative activity effectively ceased for the next quartercentury, with the exception of Notification No. 4/78 (1978) which stated that any failure to sow the allotted landwith the earmarked crop to obtain optimum results or failure to sell the full quota at the stipulated price duringa determined period would result in confiscation of the land. Presently such powers are entrusted to village andtownship administration and the cultivators are compelled to follow their dictates without voicing any protest.This was followed nearly a decade later by the adoption of the Transfer of Immovable Property Restriction Act(1987). The Act provides for restrictions on the ability to sell or give away immovable property to foreigners orforeign owned companies. The Act provides that in the case of a deceased, “totally departed” or deported foreigner,the concerned Ministry may allow inheritance according to the law or confiscate the immovable property as Stateownedproperty. The Act provides for an exception for approved diplomatic missions and UN organizations.Overall, the multitude of laws adopted between 1850 and 1988 generated the development of a complex array ofdifferent land classifications, which remains in place today. Understanding how land is allocated and defined is vitalin determining the different types of rights that are associated to each of the eleven forms of land that exist underBurmese law today. While we have not been able to access information as to the percentage of the total land massof Burma that each type of land currently occupies, we do know that eleven types of land exist under law. These are:1. Freehold land - This type of land is transferable, largely urban in nature and no land revenue taxes arerequired to be paid on it. Such land can only, in terms of law, be expropriated in the public interest, subject tothe payment of compensation, in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act. When this Act is invoked, it is theresponsibility of the General Administration Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide compensationin the form of cash, alternative land plots or in other forms.2. Grant land - This type of land is owned by the State which is leased on a long-term basis to citizens on 10,30 and 90 year terms. Grant land is transferable and lessees are required to pay land tax. In Rangoon, grant landis provided by the Yangon City Development Committee and in Mandalay by the Mandalay City DevelopmentCommittee.3. Agricultural land - This type of land is used for agricultural purposes and governed according to the terms ofthe Tenant Act (1963). After 1953 and the Land Nationalisation Act, all agricultural land became State land. Atpresent, agricultural land is allocated by Village Peace and Development Councils, bodies which are under thefull control of the SPDC. Agricultural land is not transferable and the military retains the right to determine whichtypes of crops are grown on such land and to force the grower to sell the crop directly to the State. If such rulesare contravened, the military can re-possess the land in question based on at least six grounds, including failureto cultivate on the allocated land without a good reason; sub-letting the land to others; selling, mortgaging ortransferring the land to others; ceasing to farm the land; failing to grow the stipulated type of crop or failure to sellthe full quota of the stipulated crop within the price and time-frame set by the junta.4. Garden land - This type of land is similar to agricultural land but the types of crops grown on it often differ,and land revenues on garden land is far higher than on agricultural land. Garden land is not transferable.5. Grazing land - This type of land is used for grazing purposes and land revenues are not required.