Active in promoting mining in Burma. "The Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ) is a semigovernmental
organization under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry and the main organization that executes the
Japanese Government's policies related to the mining industry. Since
its establishment in 1963, the Agency has been conducting various
exploration operations for mineral resources both within and outside
Japan, and other worldwide activities, such as technical cooperation in

The following incident report was written by a community member who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights abuses. It describes an incident involving four villagers at A---, including two home guard members and their relatives, as they were trying to covertly cross a Tatmadaw-controlled road near See Day army camp. Two home guard villagers, Saw M--- and Saw W---, were shot by Tatmadaw soldiers, resulting in the death of Saw M--- and injuring Saw W---.

Farmers from eastern Shan State’s Tachileik Township have called for an immediate end to gold mining operations in the area, which they say are seriously polluting water sources and causing other environmental damage.

The ethnic Shan villagers from Na Hai Long, Weng Manaw and Ganna villages in Talay sub-township said that more than 300 acres of farmland can no longer be cultivated due to waste produced by gold-mining companies.

The Mines and Communities Website ("MAC") was initiated by
members of the Minewatch Asia-Pacific London support group. Its main aim is to ensure easy access to materials published by the group, as well as partner organisations and individuals.

We want to make information on mining impacts, projects, and the
corporate sector more widely available. Above all, we hope to empower
mining-affected communities, so that they can better fight against
damaging proposals and practices.

This report contains 12 incident reports written by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions, based on information provided by 12 different villagers living in hiding sites in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District between November 2010 and January 2011.[1] The twelve villagers described human rights concerns for civilians prior to and during displacement to their current hiding sites, including: deliberate firing of mortars and small arms into civilian areas; burning and destruction of houses, food and food preparation equipment; theft and looting of villagers' animals and p

This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in August 2011. The KHRG researcher interviewed Saw K---, a 30-year-old medic with the Backpack Health Worker Team (BPHWT), an organisation that provides health care and medical assistance to displaced civilians inside Burma. Saw K--- described witnessing a joint attack by Tatmadaw soldiers from three different battalions on a civilian settlement in Ma No Roh village tract, Te Naw Th'Ri Township, Tenasserim Division in January 2011.

This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during September 2011 in Lu Pleh Township, Pa'an District by a community member trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The community member interviewed Saw Bw---, a 25-year-old logger from Eg--- village, who described events that occurred while he was carrying out logging work between the villages of A--- and S---.

Carries a copy of "Grave Diggers" (no search engine so go to publications and browse). Good links page.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Burma today is experiencing a crisis in security of land tenure, which includes the widespread abuse of human, economic, social, cultural, and political rights. This report, Displacement and Dispossession: Forced Migration and Land Rights in Burma focuses on land confiscation by Government forces, responsible for Burma’s most acute Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights abuses. Among the most vulnerable populations are more than one million internally displaced people in Burma, most from ethnic nationality communities.

Interesting to compare the Burmese 1994 Mining Law with those of other Asian countries (see analysis of the 1994 Mining Law in "Grave Diggers" by Roger Moody, which is on the OBL shelves).

The Myanmar Information Management Unit [UN MIMU] has released two maps which show townships with a known hazard due to the presence of antipersonnel mines, and the number of victims per township in 2010-2011.
This is the third map produced in a collaboration between MIMU in Yangon and Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor, since 2009.

Click down to Burma