11 May 2016

A decision by Myanmar’s new government to ramp up efforts to tackle land grabbing is a positive step, but must address the role of the military in perpetuating the country’s land crisis, which is at the heart of one of the longest ongoing civil wars in modern history…

By 2013, 5.3 million acres of land - 35 times the size of Myanmar’s capital Yangon - had been leased for agriculture, mostly to local crony companies with close connections to government and military officials. These land grabs have devastated livelihoods and fuelled further conflict in a country in the throes of one of the longest ongoing civil wars in living memory…

Global Witness is calling on the government and the new Central Review Committee on Confiscated Farmlands to:

• Establish and enforce a ban on further land investments, including by the military, until sufficient environmental and social safeguards are in place
• Ensure that the new Central Review Committee investigates military land disputes as part of its mandate…