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Media release: Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights

February 12, 2015/in Member statements

Media Release: Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights Human Rights Foundation of Monland – Burma (HURFOM) February 12, 2015 Land conflict is the most pressing issue facing Burma today, second only to armed conflict. Though Burma’s emerging democratic government has introduced land policy reform and has […]

Even Though I Am Free I Am Not: The need for the campaign in 2015

January 8, 2015/in Member statements

Media release: Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights

February 12, 2015/in Member statements

Even Though I Am Free I Am Not: The need for the campaign in 2015

January 8, 2015/in Member statements

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Media release: Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights

February 12, 2015/in Member statements

Media Release: Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights

Human Rights Foundation of Monland – Burma (HURFOM)
February 12, 2015

Land conflict is the most pressing issue facing Burma today, second only to armed conflict. Though Burma’s emerging democratic government has introduced land policy reform and has established land investigation commissions aimed to resolve land conflicts, civilian land acquisition by the Burmese military continues to take place, particularly in Burma’ minority ethnic areas.

Victims of land confiscation under the previous military regime and today’s quasi-civilian government demand justice through reparations and the protection of their rights under the law, however, relevant authorities consistently neglect their calls for justice, leaving the majority of cases of land conflict throughout Burma’s ethnic states unresolved.

With particular attention to ongoing land conflict in Mon State, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has produced Yearning to be Heard: Mon Farmers’ Continued Struggle for Acknowledgement and Protection of their Rights, in efforts to advocate for ethnic Mon farmers’ land rights. Throughout this report, HURFOM contends that land conflicts in Mon State must be adequately and independently investigated in order to provide justice to victims of land rights abuse, in simultaneous effort in identifying the root cause of land conflict in Burma.

Yearning to be Heard highlights major cases of land confiscation that has taken place throughout Mon State; in Mon State’s Thanbyuzayat Township alone, the report identifies large-scale land confiscation perpetrated by Artillery Battalion No. 315 and the Military Advanced Training School No. 4, both based Thanbyuzayat Township. HURFOM interviewed 40 local plantation owners along the Yangon-Tavoy railway and highway in western Wae Kalee Village, from whom Artillery Battalion No. 315 seized 400 acres of rubber plantation, as well as over 30 plantation owners from Wae Kalee, Pa Nga and Phayalaysu Villages from whom the Military Advanced Training School No. 4 seized 800 acres of rubber plantation. Additionally, through information gathered from 76 interviews conducted with land confiscation victims in Thatkaw Village and Sakhan Gyi Village in Thanbyuzayat Township, HURFOM reports that Artillery Battalion No. 315 and the Military Advanced Training School No. 4 have confiscated over 1967.8 acres of civilian rubber plantation throughout these two villages.

Beyond reporting the vast numbers of civilian land unjustly confiscated by Burmese army battalions,Yearning to be Heard presents an in-depth analysis of current domestic land law and policy, as well as proportional laws, which are of significant importance to solving Burma’s extensive land conflict.

HURFOM identifies the central causes of land conflict in Burma to be found in land policy that refuses to recognize communal and ancestral rights and fails to protect ethnic farmers’ rights, the absence of available legal avenues through which victims may take action against unjust confiscations which have been perpetrated by the military in accordance with antiquated laws, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation’s monopoly over land management and allocation, the lack of any real authority granted to government-appointed land commissions and committees in decision-making and conflict resolution, and political parties’ reticence in supporting and promoting the resolution of Burma’s land conflict.

Through Yearning to be Heard, HURFOM documents evidence regarding abuses perpetrated against Mon landowners’ rights and their struggle for just resolution. HURFOM urges relevant government bodies to recognize ancestral land laws, immediately stop all acts of land confiscation, to protect landowners’ rights, and for the government to establish an independent judicial body which victims may access to obtain fair judgment on cases of land conflict.

Full PDF copies of Yearning to be Heard [English] can be downloaded at:http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Yearning-to-be-Heard-word-Eng-Full-Report.pdf  [4242 KB]
Low resolution report [English]  http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Yearning-to-be-Heard-word-Eng-NoCover-Report.pdf  [1317 KB]
Report in brief [Burmese]  http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Yearning-to-be-Heard-word-BUR-Brief-Report.pdf [2654 KB]
Media Release [Burmese] http://www.rehmonnya.org/reports/Media-Release-BUR-HURFOM.pdf

Hard copies of the report, as well as print-quality photos for news publication can be obtained by emailing monhumanrights@gmail.com,

Questions or requests for interviews in English, Mon and Burmese should be made by emailing monhumanrights@gmail.com or calling Nai Banyar +66 (0)89 239 9401 or Nai Aue Mon +66 (0)86 167 9741

About HURFOM:
The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is a Thailand-based non-governmental human rights organization founded in 1995 by a group of Mon youth, students and community leaders. HURFOM works to monitor the human rights situation in southern Burma, and publishes print and online news, lengthy reports and analysis of ongoing human rights violations. More information can be found at www.rehmonnya.org

Even Though I Am Free I Am Not: The need for the campaign in 2015

January 8, 2015/in Member statements

Even though I am free I am not. This was the message the groundbreaking 2010 photography campaign sought to convey to the world. The message that the burgeoning road to freedom in Burma would be forever blocked while political prisoners remained. Freedom is not solely liberation from prison. It is also the need for a free country, a Burma where political freedoms and civil liberties are respected and there no longer exist political prisoners. This photo campaign, initiated by award winning documentary journalist James MacKay and The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), in conjunction with the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), demonstrated the solidarity and commitment to each other amongst former and current political prisoners. 160 former prisoners were photographed and the event was debuted at the headquarters of Amnesty International in London in June 2010.

At the time of the 2010 campaign there were still thousands of political prisoners in Burma’s jails. The number currently incarcerated in 2015 is considerably less than that, with AAPP figures recognizing around 164 current political prisoners. These numbers do not adequately reflect the reality of the situation in Burma. The steady number of releases or amnesties gives the impression that the current government recognizes the basic rights and freedoms of their people, and support the release of wrongly imprisoned activists. In actuality the number of political and human rights activists imprisoned has steadily increased since the beginning of 2014, with no official recognition of their status as political detainees. They are still imprisoned as criminals, many repeatedly imprisoned for continuing to demonstrate their brave commitment to a free democratic Burma. The the commitment this campaign symbolizes is demonstrative of the belief that no political prisoners should be left behind as the country moves towards a democracy. This campaign ensures they will not be forgotten and their freedom will be fought for.

January 4th 2015 celebrates Independence Day in Burma, with 2015 looking to be a important year for the future of the country. Independence Day marks the liberation of the country from British Colonial rule in 1948. In 2015 it should also recognize the journey that lies in front of the country now. The discussion of Burma as being in the middle of a democratic transition fails to adequately take into account steps that still need to be taken. These steps include securing the freedom of all remaining political prisoners. The needs for reform at a constitutional and judicial level are also essential first steps to take before a true democratic transition can be enacted.

The country faces many different challenges and difficulties in the run up to elections in 2015. The issue of political prisoners has been dangerously close to falling from international agendas with other issues being deemed more pressing in Burma. While civilians are continuing to face repression, harassment, abuse and arrest for defending basic civil liberties, Burma will not achieve the free democratic status they desire. The human rights of the people are not being recognized or protected by the current government and arrests are showing no sign of abating. This campaign is as necessary now as it was when there were still thousands of political prisoners remaining in Burma.

We thank our supporters, friends, colleagues and fellow activists for the continued solidarity they show with civil society in Burma. The supporters of political prisoners remain steadfast in their assertion that there can be no national reconciliation in Burma while political prisoners remain. This campaign reiterates the call to immediately and unconditionally release all remaining political prisoners and end the ongoing arrests that still pervade in Burma.

For More Information,
Thet Oo +95 (0) 9 73107933
Tin Maung Oo +95(0) 95501429
Aung Myo Kyaw +94(0) 942811 7348
Bo Kyi +66(0)81 9628 713

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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ND Burma

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