October 2020
Land in Our Hands (LIOH) is a multi-ethnic national platform where smallholder farmers, customary communities, local farmer organizations, supportive community-based organizations and allied CSOs across country comes together for the peoples’ rights to land. LIOH believes that the promoting, protecting, respecting & fulfilling the land tenure rights of smallholder farmers, small-scale land users, fisher-folks, and particularly of rural youth, women & ethnic communities, and including those who have been and remain displaced due to war/armed conflict, big development projects, and/or big conservation schemes, is integral to the realization of their human rights and is essential in striving for durable peace with social and economic justice, genuinely equitable and sustainable development in the country. In this regards, LIOH always contribute Myanmar land reform effort by commenting and criticizing positively.
A national statement, a congregated discussions of (& demands from) land rights CSOs, farmers and IDPs from different states & regions in 2018, says existing laws, amending laws and bills related to land are not proceeded democratically; are not based on sufficient policy & principles; but they are enacted without proper public consultation. The statement also demands to abolish VFV law[1] and to make a federal land law that respects the land ownership rights & management, and includes the measures reinstating the territories[2].
LIOH also demands that the process of drafting a land law should resolve the existing land issues and land conflicts justly; should guarantee the peoples’ sovereignty on land & natural resources in the future; should be the democratic process where the affected and vulnerable peoples can decide[3]. Currently, the government is initiating some efforts for drafting a national land law those include forming committees/working committees, creating roadmap and drafting work-plan. Therefore, LIOH together with its allies from different states and regions, prepared this position paper composed with the principles that an umbrella land law must be based on, after analyzing the current land rights situations through the perspectives of peoples’ rights to land.
Download the full position paper in English and Burmese.
[1] The Vacant, Fallow & Virgin Land Management Law 2012 and the Amendments 2018
[2] https://lioh.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/LIOH_statement_20180523_MM.pdf
[3] LIOH_comment_on_NLUP_forum.pdf