Land Committees: An Opportunity for Inclusion

Jul 7, 2017 | Caitlin Pierce and Ye Yint Htun
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Of the long list of legacy woes leftover to the new government after decades of military rule, the issue of land confiscation is one of the most important. According to the now-defunct Parliamentary Land Investigation Committee, the military, government and private companies confiscated more than 500,000 acres of land between the 1980s and early 2000s, much of which went into large-scale agriculture projects. Other estimates put the figure in the millions of acres.

Data from Namati, a legal empowerment organisation focused on land rights in Myanmar, shows that more than 70 percent of those who had their land confiscated during military rule have no access to other land to farm.

As a result, many are forced into more difficult and uncertain livelihoods such as casual labouring. Additionally, many have faced criminal charges for trespassing on land they believe is rightfully theirs.