Myanmar: Displaced Villagers File Complaint Regarding Japan’s Investment in Myanmar’s Thilawa Special Economic Zone

May 3, 2014 | Asian Tribune
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Tokyo, 03 May, (Asiantribune.com): Three residents from the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) area near Yangon, Myanmar, delivered an Objection to the Examiner for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) today in Tokyo.

It is the first known formal complaint filed under JICA’s Objection Procedures since the restructuring of JICA in 2008. One of the examiners, Dr. Sachihiko Harashina met the villagers in person to receive the complaint.

The Objection outlined damages that the villagers from the 400 ha area of Phase I of the project have incurred in their relocation from their homes and land, and those damages likely to be incurred by the residents on 2,000 ha that will be used in subsequent phases of the project. These damages include the loss of farmland and access to farmland, loss of livelihood opportunities, impoverishment, loss of educational opportunities for the villagers’ children, substandard housing and basic infrastructure in the Myaing Tha Yar resettlement site and loss of access to clean water.