While Burma’s ethnic states are blessed with a wealth of natural resources and biodiversity, they
have been cursed by the unsustainable extraction and sale of those resources, which has fuelled
armed conflict. Instituting a system of devolved federal management of natural resources can
play a key role in resolving conflict and building a lasting peace in Burma.
Despite some ceasefires on paper, Burma remains in a state of conflict. Ongoing offensives in
Kachin and Shan states alone have left hundreds of thousands homeless. Fundamental calls for

Over the years HURFOM has produced a number of accounts highlighting the
hardships faced by Mon farmers who became victims of land confiscation or
unjust land acquisition.1 In this report HURFOM follows-up on previously
documented abuses and concentrates on an emerging new trend: farmers’ active and
collective pursuits for rights to their land.
Disputed Territory aims to elaborate on the activities of and express solidarity with
farmers who are resolutely, and in some cases for the first time, seeking justice

This Short Update describes events occurring in Hti Lon Township, Hpa-an District in March 2014, including land confiscation committed by the Burma/Myanmar government and wealthy individuals, destruction of villagers land due to flooding caused by a dam, as well as the strategies of villagers to claim back their land, and obtain compensation for the land that they have lost.

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This Situation Update describes land confiscation committed by local armed actors in Hlaingbwe, Don Yin and Hti Lon townships, Hpa-an District during 2014: Tatmadaw soldiers destroyed approximately 3,000 acres of villagers’ paddy fields during the construction of a dam in Hti Lon village...
In the western part of Maw Ko village tract, a monk, coordinating with the Border Guard Force, confiscated villagers’ paddy fields and plantations. They also cut down trees which villagers use to make roofing for their houses and turned the area into a rubber plantation...

This Situation Update describes events occurring in Thaton Township, Thaton District during April 2014, including updates on gravel mining projects, community education and healthcare...

Villagers report a lack of nurses and medics in Thaton Township. Furthermore, Burma/Myanmar government-built clinics have fallen into disrepair due to neglect and a lack of staff...

This Short Update describes the confiscation of land belonging to villagers in Don Yin Township, Hpa-an District. The land was confiscated under the threat of violence by members of the Karen National Liberation Army, the KNU/KNLA-Peace Council and other individuals.

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in February 2013 by a community member describing events occurring in T'Nay Hsah Township, Hpa-an District between June 2012 and February 2013. The report describes monks demanding money and labour from villagers for the building of roads and pagodas. Also detailed in this report is the loss of money and possessions by many villagers through playing the two-digit lottery.

This Interview with Ma A--- describes events occurring in B--- village, Hpa-an Township, Thaton District in June 2015, including land confiscation, forced relocation, attack on a village and villagers, threatening, looting, arbitrary detention and threats to children’s right to education.

(Hong Kong, April 10, 2013) A Burma-based lawyers group has released its findings on the Letpadaung land struggle in English.

The 39-page illustrated report was submitted by the Lawyers Network (Myanmar) and the Justice Trust in February to the government's investigation commission into events at Letpadaung, recounts the land struggle and subsequent crackdown on protestors.

In Myanmar, as in other countries of the Mekong, it is widely acknowledged that the clearing of forests to
make way for the expansion of commercial agricultural fields is increasingly the leading driver of deforestation,
alongside legal and illegal logging, and the clearance of forest areas to make way for infrastructure projects
such as roads and hydropower dams. While the conversion of forests for agricultural development has been
occurring for many decades, it is the unprecedented rate of this conversion that is now so astounding — as

Conclusion: "Most relevant reports and surveys I have been able to access state essentially that people from all parts of Burma leave home either in obedience to a direct relocation order from the military or civil authorities or as a result of a process whereby coercive measures imposed by the authorities play a major role in forcing down household incomes to the point where the family cannot survive. At this point, leaving home may seem to be the only option.