BURMA/MYANMAR: Farmers face prison sentences for trespassing and move to remote prisons
July 25, 2014
President of Myanmar, U Thein Sein, announced that the government cannot give back over 30,000 acres of paddy land that
the state has been using since it was confiscated by the army two decades ago. On the one hand the President ordered
state and regional governments and land management committee to cooperate with members of the parliament to solve the
problem of land grabbing cases. On the other hand he has announced the government cannot handover some land back. This
is leading to prosecution and prison sentences for the farmers in conflict with the army regarding their land.
According to the Myanmar President’s Office official website, the President submitted a report (26-4-2014 to 24-6-2014)
to National Parliament regarding the confiscation of land by the military, ministries, regional governments, and
businesses with only small amounts of compensation. There are many more cases of the government neither paying
compensation nor returning the land to its owners.
Different reasons and sectors which confiscated farmland:
1. The military grabbed lands from civilians to build up places, for military training operations, plantation and animal
husbandry, and various forms of military owned businesses. To get financial support for battalions, they offer to rent
the land back to farmers, essentially requiring the farmers to pay to grow crops on their own land. The
Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services gave an order to the battalions not to do business with civilian and avoid
offering any such tenant agreements, but the order has been ignored.
2. Ministries and corporations confiscated farmland for new town plans and infrastructure projects. Some lands were
confiscated under the Land Acquisition Act, but insufficient compensation was given to the farmers. Government
corporations also grabbed the farmland to build state owned factories, however they sold the land to private companies
instead.
3. Private companies that applied for the virgin lands from farmland management body have, in-stead, been given farmland
and pastureland mislabelled as virgin land. District and Township Officers, responsible person for companies, and
farmland management bodies cooperated together to change the documents and grab the land. As the government annulled
pastureland, they did not give compensation to the farmers.
On 27 and 28 May 2014, 190 farmers from Pharuso Township, Kayah State were prosecuted for ploughing in land confiscated
by No.531 Light Infantry Battalion. Tanintharyi regional government seized farmland for Dawei New Town Plan Project in
Dawai Township and the District Administrative Officer with his team began construction on the grabbed land. Twenty
farmers who did not take compensation for their land tried to halt the team. As a result, all the farmers were
prosecuted; 10 were sentenced to 3 to 9 months imprisonment and the others paid fines. There are 450 farmers from
Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region who are protesting against the military and have had cases filed against them for
cultivating in the confiscated land. Their lands were used for a sugar cane project and a sugar production factory by
the military and the Myanmar Economic Corporation. They were brought to court under the Penal Code, accused of
trespassing and mischief on the land. They cases are still going on, more than 65 farmers have been sentenced to jail
since the second week of July, and they all have been sent to various prisons around the country.
The Asian Human Rights Commission calls for the military to offer sufficient compensation according to Land Acquisition
Act, as well as stop prosecutions of and provide justice for the farmers. The AHRC also condemns the military’s illegal
land grabs, military cooperation business with private companies to use such lands, and the practice of renting land
back to the original owners.
ENDS