Land of Sorrow: Human Rights Violations at Myanmar’s Myotha Industrial Park
Publisher: International Federation for Human Rights
Date: 2017
Topics: Governance, Land
Countries: Myanmar
Myanmar may soon face a land conflict epidemic as a result of the growing influx of investments and the consequent demand for land, unless laws and policies that adequately address land rights issues are urgently adopted and implemented. The Myotha Industrial Park typifies Myanmar’s current economic development model, which seeks to incentivize investment in areas designated as “least developed.” The Myotha Industrial Park, developed by the Burmese company Mandalay Myotha Industrial Development (MMID) in Ngazun Township, Mandalay Region, is a glaring example of how Myanmar’s rural communities suffer harmful consequences and receive little or no redress as a result of large-scale industrial projects. In the Myotha Industrial Park area, a combination of a flawed legal framework, unscrupulous authorities, and irresponsible investors produced a perfect storm in which more than 1,000 families from 14 villages lost their land – their sole source of livelihood – to make way for the project’s development.