Press Release: Terry Evans
7 December
Burma : Junta Named Worst Housing Rights Violator
This week the State Peace and Development Council of Burma named as Housing Rights Violator for the mass displacement of
more than one million civilians
The "State Peace and Development Council" (SPDC) of Burma has been named one of three Housing Rights Violators of 2007
by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) for the mass displacement of more than one million
civilians from their lands and homes.
Each year, COHRE presents its Housing Rights Violator Awards to three governments or other institutions guilty of
particularly serious and pervasive housing rights violations in the preceding year. COHRE has issued these awards since
2002. This year, the SPDC of Burma shares the Violator Awards with Slovakia and (jointly) the Beijing Municipality and
Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG).
COHRE named the SPDC of Burma for its persistent, systematic and unjustified violation of the housing rights of its
citizens and for its ongoing failure to apply international human rights standards.
Jean du Plessis, COHRE's Deputy Director, said, "The military regime in Burma has displaced more than one million people
from their lands and homes since 1962, disproportionately affecting ethnic nationality communities - which has included
confiscating their lands. The SPDC's brutal campaign against ethnic nationality communities - confiscating their lands,
attacking and burning villages, killing thousands of civilians, raping women and looting property - is in clear breach
of international law. The military regime's 'Burmanisation' policy of ethnic cleansing and social engineering through
forced relocation and land confiscation, which has led to the mass displacement of more than one million people from
their lands and homes in Burma, is clear evidence of its complete disregard for human rights including the right to
adequate housing. International law clearly and unequivocally prohibits forced evictions and the arbitrary confiscation
of peoples' homes and lands."
According to COHRE's new report, Displacement and Dispossession: Forced Migration and Land Rights in Burma, land
confiscation by Government forces is responsible for many serious housing, land and property (HLP) rights violations in
Burma. These abuses occur during military counter-insurgency operations; to clear land for the construction of new army
bases; to make way for infrastructure development projects; to facilitate natural resource extraction; and to cater for
the vested interests of business.
Displacement and Dispossession: Forced Migration and Land Rights in Burma also reveals that control of land is a key
strategy for the military regime, and a means of promoting the on-going expansion of the Burmese Army (Tatmadaw). In
1998, the SPDC issued a directive instructing Tatmadaw battalions to become self-sufficient in rice and other basic
provisions. This prompted the Tatmadaw to 'live off the land' by appropriating resources (food, cash, labour, land) from
the civilian population. This policy has exacerbated conflict and displacement across much of rural Burma.
The Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) and its partners estimate that during 2007, approximately 76,000 people have
been newly displaced by armed conflict and associated human rights abuses. The majority of new incidents of forced
migration and village destruction were concentrated in northeast Karen State and adjacent areas of Pegu Division. The
total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Eastern Burma in October 2007 was 503,000. These included 295,000
people in ceasefire zones, 99,000 IDPs 'in hiding' in the jungle and 109,000 in relocation sites. The estimates exclude
hundreds of thousands of IDPs in other parts of Burma (especially Kachin and Shan States, and the west of the country,
as well as in some parts of Karen State). Including these figures would bring the total to over a million internally
displaced people.
COHRE's Du Plessis said, "More than one million people have been dispossessed and are internally displaced in Burma -
not because of a natural disaster, but due to their own government's calculated and brutal actions. We have here a state
monopoly which forcibly transfers property, income and assets, from rural, non-Burman ethnic nationalities to an elite,
military Government. The HLP violations found in Burma today are the result of short-sighted and predatory policies that
date back to the early years of Independence, and to the period of colonial rule. These problems can only be resolved
through substantial and sustained change in Burma. Political transition should include improved access to a range of
fundamental rights, as enshrined in international law and conventions - including respect for HLP rights."
ENDS