Displacement and dispossession: Forced migration and land rights in Burma | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
December 2007
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
MLRF:2486
Pages: 
1-175

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. These include at least 500 000 people in the armed conflict-affected border regions of eastern Burma. This report focuses on the ongoing abuses of HLP rights occurring under military rule today, particularly in areas populated by non-Burman peoples. In recent years, the peoples living in these areas have been the most severely affected by large-scale displacement. These abuses occur during military counter-insurgency operations; for the construction and support of new army battalions; to make way for infrastructure development projects; in the context of natural resource extraction; and to provide vested interests with business opportunities.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

South, Ashley

Data provider

The purpose of the Mekong Land Research Forum online site is to provide structured access to published and unpublished research on land issues in the Mekong Region. It is based on the premise that debates and decisions around land governance can be enhanced by drawing on the considerable volume of research, documented experience and action-based reflection that is available.

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