EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "While the existing data available on landmine victims
indicate that Burma/Myanmar1 faces one of the most
severe landmine problems in the world today, little is
known about the actual extent of the problem, the
impact on affected populations, communities’ mine
action needs and how different actors can become
more involved in mine action.
The Government of Burma/Myanmar has prohibited
almost all forms of mine action with the exception of
a limited amount of prosthetic assistance to people

Key developments since May 2002: "Myanmar’s military has continued laying landmines. At least 15 rebel groups also used mines, two more than last year: the New Mon State Party and the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party. Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams and ICBL Coordinator Liz Bernstein visited the country in February 2003."..."Myanmar’s ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Myanmar abstained from voting on the pro-Mine Ban Treaty UN General Assembly Resolution 57/74 in November 2002.

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Toungoo District between August and October 2011. It contains information concerning military activity in the district, specifically demands for forced labour by Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #375. Villagers from D--- and A--- were reportedly forced to clear vegetation surrounding their camp and some A--- villagers were also used to sweep for landmines.

SPECIAL ISSUE ON LANDMINES:- Burma's Landmine

Stephen Goose, co-founder of Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines, is one of the world's foremost authorities on the use of anti-personnel landmines. In this exclusive interview with The Irrawaddy, he describes the situation inside Burma, where, he says, there are an estimated 1,500 landmine casualties each year.

BURMA
LANDMINE
ISSUE
2009: UN Security Council - act now!...Understand us...KNU LANDMINE POLICY...Mine incidents rise...Landmine deaths double...Pizza-oven helps
mine victims walk...Worried about mines, but who will feed us?...How to help -- when there's no doctor...Ranger's deliver aid...No place to call home...Landmines show no mercy...Once were enemies...More attacks - more landmines...Uncle Maw Keh offers
hope to landmine victims...Burma's Killing Fields...Lucky to be alive...

Deep in the wilds of northern Myanmar's Kachin state a brutal civil war has intensified over the past year between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

People & Power sent filmmakers Jason Motlagh and Steve Sapienza to Myanmar (formerly Burma) to investigate why the conflict rages on, despite the political reforms in the south that have impressed Western governments and investors now lining up to stake their claim in the resource-rich Asian nation.

Analysis of KHRG's field information gathered between January 2011 and May 2012 in seven geographic research areas indicates that, during that period, new landmines were deployed by government and non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in all seven research areas. Ongoing mine contamination in eastern Burma continues to put civilians' lives and livelihoods at risk and undermines their efforts to protect against other forms of abuse.

This report is based on information submitted by community members in March 2013 describing events occurring in Papun District in February 2013. On February 11th 2013, a landmine exploded in K'Ter Tee village tract, Dwe Lo Township, Papun district. A total of five villagers were killed in the explosion, three of whom were under the age of 18. The villagers were hit by the landmine while transporting sand in a car for the Green Hill Company, a company affiliated with BGF Battalions #1013 and #1014. The group who planted the landmine is unknown.

Anti-personnel landmines are victim-activated weapons that indiscriminately kill and maim civilians, soldiers, elderly people, women, children and animals. They can cause injury and death long after the end of hostilities. In Asia, Burma is currently second only to Afghanistan in the number of new landmine victims, surpassing even Cambodia. Contrary to trends in the rest of the world, the SPDC has not signed the Mine Ban Treaty and abstained from the 1999 UN General Assembly vote on the treaty. Of Burma’s 14 states and divisions, 9 of them are affected by landmines.

Key developments since May 2004: Myanmar"atrocity demining") was reported in 2004-2005, as in previous years. No humanitarian mine clearance has taken place in Burma. No military or village demining has been reported since May 2004. At a UNHCR seminar in November 2004, the mine threat was identified as one of the most serious impediments to the safe return of internally displaced persons and refugees. Mine risk education is carried out by NGOs on an increasing basis, in refugee camps and within other assistance efforts.

Executive Summary: "The remote and environmentally rich Hugawng valley in Burma's northern Kachin State has been internationally recognized as one of the world's hotspots of biodiversity. Indeed, the military junta ruling Burma, together with the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society, is establishing the world's largest tiger reserve in the valley. However, the conditions of the people living there have not received attention.