DOCSLIB.ORG

Customary Tenure Documentation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Customary Tenure Documentation Guidebook Written by Celine Allaverdian, Julia Fogerite, Natalia Scurrah, Si Thu, Htike San In cooperation with the Learning and Alliance partners, including Farmers and Landworkers Union (FLU), 88 generation, Development Center for Grassroot community (DCGC), Point, Kachin Youth Organisation (KYO), Ta’ang Students Youth Organisation (TSYU) Reviewed by: Jean Christophe Diepart and Christian Castellanet Acknowledgements: The authors and partners would like to acknowledge the substantial contribution made by Kirsten Ewers who led the training of customary documentation with local organizations and laid the groundwork for the development the guidebook. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Yadana Than Htaik, Aung Tin Moe and Htet Kyaw for their support in the development and piloting of the guidebook. Finally, we would like to thank Ko Myo Thant as well as Ma Ngwe and Ko Win Shane Myint for their long term commitment to the learning process since the beginning. T` For more information, contact: Celine Allaverdian : [email protected] Julia Fogerite : [email protected] Natalia Scurrah : [email protected] Si Thu Htike San : [email protected] Suggested citation: Allaverdian, C., Fogerite, J. Scurrah N. and Si Thu Htike San (2017). Documenting Customary Tenure in Myanmar. A guidebook. MRLG guidebook #1. Vientiane & Yangon: Mekong Region Land Governance. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Contents LIST OF FIGURES 5-6 LIST OF TABLES 7 LIST OF ACRONYMS 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8-9 1 INTRODUCTION 10 WHY WAS THIS GUIDEBOOK DEVELOPED? 10 HOW TO USE THIS GUIDEBOOK? 11 2 LEGAL CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR 15 CUSTOMARY TENURE RECOGNITION IN MYANMAR 2.1 CUSTOMARY LAW IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT 15 2.2 CUSTOMARY TENURE IN THE CURRENT LEGAL FRAMEWORK 16 2.3 INTRODUCTION OF LEGAL LAND CATEGORIES AND STATUTORY AUTHORITY 23 2.4 FORMAL RECOGNITION AVAILABLE FOR DIFFERENT LAND USE TYPES 27 2.5 OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVED RECOGNITION OF CUSTOMARY TENURE 28 The National Land Use Policy (2016) 28 Peace Process and Politic al Dialogue 30 3 International law and UNDRIP 30 3 CUSTOMARY TENURE DOCUMENTATION: OVERVIEW AND APPROACH 32 3.1 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE DOCUMENTATION PROCESS 32 Basic principles of the documentation approach 32 Key principles to obtain quality information 35 Ethical principles of research 37 3.2 BASIC CONCEPTS OF CUSTOMARY TENURE 38 Land covers many dimensions 38 Tenure and the diversity of rights 39 Different classes of right holders in customary systems 40 Different forms of tenure and management 41 What does management imply for customary tenure? 42 Different tenure arrangements under customary tenure 43 Co-existence of non-customary and customary tenure 43 Changes in customary tenure 44 Diversity of customary tenure in Myanmar 44 CONTENTS 4 DOCUMENTATION PREPARATION STAGE 45 OVERVIEW OF KEY STEPS IN THE PREPARATION STAGE 45 STEP 1: TRAINING OF CSO FACILITATORS 47 STEP 2: COLLECT EXISTING INFORMATION AND LEARN ABOUT THE TARGET AREA 47 STEP 3: CLARIFY YOUR OBJECTIVES 48 Evidence-based advocacy for law and policy 49 Developing Policy and Law 50 Advocating for the recognition of customary tenure 50 Redress land grabs or prevent future land grabs 53 Strengthen community land and resource management 54 Summary on clarifying documentation objectives 55 STEP 4: IDENTIFY WHO WILL BE INVOLVED IN THE DOCUMENTATION PROCESS 56 Government Involvement 57 STEP 5: UNDERTAKE A COMMUNITY CONSULTATION PROCESS 58 Assess potential risks and how to minimize or mitigate them 59 How to develop a conflict mitigation strategy 60 Obtaining free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) 66 Select village sites and identify community facilitators 67 STEP 6: TRAIN COMMUNITY FACILITATORS AND DESIGN 68 THE CUSTOMARY TENURE DOCUMENTATION STUDY STEP 7: PRESENT THE DOCUMENTATION DESIGN WITH BROADER 68 COMMUNITY AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS TO GET FEEDBACK 5 TRAINING 69 5.1 INITIAL TRAINING OF DOCUMENTATION “RESOURCE PERSONS” 71 5.2 TRAINING OF LOCAL CSO DOCUMENTATION FACILITATORS 72 5.3 TRAINING OF COMMUNITY FACILITATORS 72 6 CUSTOMARY TENURE DOCUMENTATION 77 6.1 INTRODUCTION TO KEY DOCUMENTATION COMPONENTS 78 Core components of customary tenure 81 6.2 DOCUMENTING THE KEY COMPONENTS OF CUSTOMARY TENURE SYSTEMS 81 Basic village information 82 Local history 83 Land use and land management 85 Resource tenure and transfer 88 CONTENTS Institutions 89 Customary Conflict Resolution 91 Livelihoods 93 Cultural Dimensions of Land: Feasts, Festivals, Stories, Art, Dance, Song 95 6.3 STEPS FOR DOCUMENTING CUSTOMARY TENURE 96 6.4 WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN THE DOCUMENTATION PROCESS? 97 Community Leaders 98 Diverse perspectives and specialized knowledge 98 Vulnerable Groups 98 Gender Considerations 99 6.5 METHODOLOGY AND TOOLS FOR DOCUMENTING CUSTOMARY TENURE SYSTEMS 101 Mapping 101 Focus Group Discussions 111 Individual interviews 112 Household Interviews 113 Field observation 114 6.6 VISUAL AND AUDIO DATA 115 6.7 KEEPING A RECORD 115 6.8 DATA COMPILATION 116 6.9 VERIFYING INFORMATION 116 7 COMMUNICATING FINDINGS, COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND COLLECTIVE ACTION 117 7.1 WRITING UP THE INFORMATION 117 7.2 GIVING BACK THE RESULTS TO THE COMMUNITY AND 120 DEVELOPING A PLAN FOR DISSEMINATION AND ACTION Data ownership 121 7.3 TAKING ACTION 121 Advocacy 122 Land tenure defense 122 Community land use and management planning 122 8 APPENDIXES 123 APPENDIX 1: USEFUL RESOURCES 123 APPENDIX 2: STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS 125 APPENDIX 3: DOCUMENTATION DESIGN 126 APPENDIX 4: MASTER LIST OF QUESTIONS 126 APPENDIX 5: EXAMPLE OF OUTLINES FOR REPORTS 143 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Step by step diagram of the entire process documentation process 14 Figure 2: Poster with land uses and responsibles Institutions 24 Figure 3: “What is not PAR?” 33 Figure 4: Action research cycle 34 Figure 5: Spending time accompanying villagers in their daily tasks on the farm. 37 Figure 6: Bundle of rights 39 Figure 7: Bundles of rights associated with positions 40 Figure 8: Process and steps for the preparation 46 Figure 9: Maps on Google Earth can be projected onto a screen or 48 printed out to facilitate discussions with communities. Figure 10: The Google map application on smartphones allows to you to “drop a pin” 48 where you are standing to find its location on a map, including on Google Earth Figure 11: Key components to successful advocacy 49 Figure 12: Community consultation process led by Local CSO leader 58 Figure 13: Key criteria when assessing risks 59 Figure 14: “Forced” consent is not consent. 66 Figure 15: Trainings for Customary tenure documentation 70 Figure 16: Training process 70 Figure 17: Different working and training options for community facilitators 73 Figure 18: Example of documentation plan and schedule 76 Figure 19: Crosscheck with google map and sketch map 77 Figure 20: Key components of Customary tenure documentation 78 5 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 21: Core components of customary tenure with land use, tenure and institutions 81 Figure 22: Example of time line combining information on changes in resources availability 84 Figure 23: Example of transect block diagrams showing land use changes over time 84 (source: E. Le Gal, N. Molinier – Agrarian diagnosis, region of Wolayta/Damot Gale. CNEARC 2009) Figure 24: Example of mapping on the ground as a first step 86 Figure 25: Land use map from customary documentation process by 88 the Farmers and Land Workers Union (FLU) in Shan state Figure 26: Example of social mapping 91 Figure 27: Household economy map 94 Source:http://www.slideshare.net/imranahmad131/pra-tools-imran-ahmad-sajid Figure 28: A villager as an integrated land-man-spiritual world relationship. 96 Figure 29: Group discussions on different aspects of customary tenure, 97 as per your objectives and documentation plan Figure 30: illustration on Gender considerations 100 Figure 31: Sketch map of land management and use. 102 Figure 32: Mapping on the ground 105 Figure 33: First step of sketch mapping with the villagers 105 Figure 34: Example of a map showing the way different villages use 108 different common natural resources, without showing boundaries Figure 35: Househole interview on Livelihoods, land use and ownership. 113 Figure 36: Walking around the village and observe the crops, villagers’ activities, and 115 the natural environment and landmarks Figure 37: Information flows 118 6 `L IST OF TABLES Table 1: Forest Types under Permanent Forest Estate (PFE) 20 Table 2: Land ownership rights under different land use types 27 Table 3: Common arguments in support of customary tenure recognition 51 Table 4: Examples showing how customary tenure documentation has different objectives and focus 55 Table 5: Examples of potential risks and how to minimize and manage them 64 Table 6: Common types of participatory mapping 110 Table 7: Example of ways to communicate findings 119 LIST OF ACRONYMS CF Community Forestry CFI Community Forestry Instruction (CFI) CSO Civil society organisation ECDF Ethnic Community Development Forum’s EIA Environmental Impact Assessment FPIC Free, Prior, and Informed Consent GIS Geographic Information System GPS Global Position System IDP Internally displaced people KEAN Kayah Earthrights Action Network’s NGO Non-Governmental Organisation MRLG Mekong Region Land Governance project PAR Participatory Action Research PFE Permanent Forest Estate LUC Land Use Certificates MIMU Myanmar Information Management Unit MONREC Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation NLD National League for Democracy NLUP National Land Use Policy VFV Vacant, Fallow and Virgin (land) VGGT Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Tenure (). UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigeneous People 7 Executive Summary This guidebook provides conceptual, legal and practical tools and resources to help civil society organizations guide communities through the process of documenting customary tenure at the local level. It also provides suggestions for how to build on the momentum generated by the documentation process to develop strategies and actions to defend, strengthen and promote customary rights at community, regional and national level.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mandy Sadan Syphilis and the Kachin Regeneration Campaign, 1937–38 This Paper Discusses the Introduction of a Policy Known As
    Please note: This paper is an early draft of a paper that was later published as Sadan, Mandy (2010) 'Syphilis and the Kachin Regeneration Campaign, 1937– 38.' Journal of Burma Studies, 14 . pp. 115-149. The published version should be cited. Mandy Sadan Syphilis and the Kachin Regeneration Campaign, 1937–38 This paper discusses the introduction of a policy known as the Kachin Regeneration Campaign in the Kachin Hills from 1937 to 1938. Initiated by a belief that the Kachin people were on the verge of dying out because of an epidemic of syphilis, the campaign reveals much about the realities of Kachin dissociation from the late colonial regime, contrasting sharply with the conventional historical narrative of Kachin compliance with imperial control. A significant part of the Regeneration Campaign’s agenda was a less publicly acknowledged awareness that former Kachin soldiers were becoming a potentially volatile interest group and that there was increasing discontent across the Kachin Hills with regard to the administration, the military and the missions. The paper uses the concept of a sick role to describe the approach of the Regeneration Campaign to Kachin society and discusses how the rhetoric of the campaign became embedded in the sermons of the local Christian missions, justifying changes to women’s roles and more recently impacting upon early responses to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region. It is the general belief of all who are acquainted with the Kachin Hills, that the Kachins are a dying race doomed shortly to disappear unless specific measures are taken to save them.
    [Show full text]
  • Title <Book Reviews>Mandy Sadan. 『Being and Becoming Kachin
    <Book Reviews>Mandy Sadan. 『Being and Becoming Title Kachin: Histories Beyond the State in the Borderworlds of Burma』 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, 470p. Author(s) Imamura, Masao Citation Southeast Asian Studies (2015), 4(1): 199-206 Issue Date 2015-04 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/197733 Right ©Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University Type Departmental Bulletin Paper Textversion publisher Kyoto University Book Reviews 199 Being and Becoming Kachin: Histories Beyond the State in the Borderworlds of Burma MANDY SADAN Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, 470p. Over the past 15 years, Mandy Sadan has single-handedly launched new historical scholarship on the Kachin people. The Kachin, a group of highlanders who mostly reside in the northern region of Myanmar, had long been widely known among academics, thanks to Edmund Leach’s 1954 clas- sic Political Systems of Highland Burma: A Study of Kachin Social Structure. The lack of access to Myanmar, however, has meant that until very recently scholarly discussions were often more about Leach and his theory than about the Kachin people themselves. Sadan, an English historian, has introduced an entirely new set of historical studies from a resolutely empirical perspective. The much-anticipated monograph, Being and Becoming Kachin: Histories Beyond the State in the Border- worlds of Burma, brings together the fruits of her scholarship, including a surprisingly large amount of findings that have not been published before. This publication is certainly a cause for celebration, especially because it is rare that such a thick monograph exclusively focused on one ethnic minor- ity group is published at all nowadays.1) With this monograph, Sadan has again raised the standard of Kachin scholarship to a new level.
    [Show full text]
  • Identity Crisis: Ethnicity and Conflict in Myanmar
    Identity Crisis: Ethnicity and Conflict in Myanmar Asia Report N°312 | 28 August 2020 Headquarters International Crisis Group Avenue Louise 235 • 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 • Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Preventing War. Shaping Peace. Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. A Legacy of Division ......................................................................................................... 4 A. Who Lives in Myanmar? ............................................................................................ 4 B. Those Who Belong and Those Who Don’t ................................................................. 5 C. Contemporary Ramifications..................................................................................... 7 III. Liberalisation and Ethno-nationalism ............................................................................. 9 IV. The Militarisation of Ethnicity ......................................................................................... 13 A. The Rise and Fall of the Kaungkha Militia ................................................................ 14 B. The Shanni: A New Ethnic Armed Group ................................................................. 18 C. An Uncertain Fate for Upland People in Rakhine
    [Show full text]
  • Kachin State Development Prospects and Priorities
    79 John F. Kennedy Street, Box 74 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 617-495-1134 www.ash.harvard.edu/myanmar-program Kachin State Development Prospects and Priorities Prepared for Proximity Designs | Myanmar May 2016 This research paper was written by David Dapice ([email protected]) following a trip to the region in January 2016. The views expressed herein are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Proximity, the Government of the Union of Myanmar, or Harvard University. This study, along with other recent Ash-Proximity reports on Myanmar, is posted at http://ash.harvard.edu/journal-articles Rakhine State Policies for the New State Government Page 2 of 14 Contents Background ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Resource Curse and the Political Economy of Kachin Development ............................................................ 4 Kachin in a National Perspective ................................................................................................................... 5 Issues Specific to Kachin State ...................................................................................................................... 7 Agriculture .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Convergence of NLD and Kachin Administrations .....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Conspiracy, God's Plan and National Emergency
    CHAPTER EIGHT Conspiracy, God’s Plan and National Emergency Kachin Popular Analyses of the Ceasefire Era and its Resource Grabs Laur Kiik Introduction isiting Yangon in 2014, I noticed some well-meaning locals refer to the dragging Kachin military-political impasse by stat- ing: ‘The Kachins are being too stubborn, too emotional now’. OtherV observers find such talk belittling. They respond by emphasising how ‘The Kachins merely demand that Myanmar begin genuine political dialogue on federalism’ and ‘are thus correct in refusing simply to sign a new ceasefire’. This oscillation between explaining the Kachin impasse either through collective emotional trauma or through formal political discourse misses what Mandy Sadan identified in her monograph on Kachin histories as ‘social worlds beyond’.1 As this chapter tries to show, these are diverse, contradictory, and ambitious social worlds that people live within. They cannot be encapsulated by inaccurate and homogenis- ing expressions like ‘the Kachins’, ‘are emotional’, or ‘want federalism’. It is the argument of this chapter that the way people in these worlds understand their ceasefire experiences to express ethno-national emergency, divine predestination, and ethnocidal conspiracy influences directly their contemporary responses to ceasefire politics. 1. Mandy Sadan, Being and Becoming Kachin: Histories Beyond the State in the Border- worlds of Burma (Oxford: The British Academy and Oxford University Press, 2013), 455–60. 205 War and Peace in the Borderlands of Myanmar Figure 8.1: Many Kachin patriots are working for a future Kachin national modernity – a homeland yet-to-be (photo Hpauyam Awng Di). Many chapters in this volume refer to a hardening of Kachin na- tionalist rhetoric in recent years, in particular the chapters by Mahkaw Hkun Sa, Nhkum Bu Lu, Jenny Hedström, and Hkanhpa Tu Sadan.
    [Show full text]
  • Behind the Scenes
    ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd 438 Behind the Scenes SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK We love to hear from travellers – your comments keep us on our toes and help make our books better. Our well-travelled team reads every word on what you loved or loathed about this book. Although we cannot reply individually to your submissions, we always guarantee that your feed- back goes straight to the appropriate authors, in time for the next edition. Each person who sends us information is thanked in the next edition – the most useful submissions are rewarded with a selection of digital PDF chapters. Visit lonelyplanet.com/contact to submit your updates and suggestions or to ask for help. Our award-winning website also features inspirational travel stories, news and discussions. Note: We may edit, reproduce and incorporate your comments in Lonely Planet products such as guidebooks, websites and digital products, so let us know if you don’t want your comments reproduced or your name acknowledged. For a copy of our privacy policy visit lonelyplanet.com/ privacy. Tamara Decaluwe, Terence Boley, Thomas Van OUR READERS Loock, Tim Elliott, Ylwa Alwarsdotter Many thanks to the travellers who used the last edition and wrote to us with help- ful hints, useful advice and interesting WRITER THANKS anecdotes: Alex Wharton, Amy Nguyen, Andrew Selth, Simon Richmond Angela Tucker, Anita Kuiper, Annabel Dunn, An- Many thanks to my fellow authors and the fol- nette Lüthi, Anthony Lee, Bernard Keller, Carina lowing people in Yangon: William Myatwunna, Hall, Christina Pefani, Christoph Knop, Chris- Thant Myint-U, Edwin Briels, Jessica Mudditt, toph Mayer, Claudia van Harten, Claudio Strep- Jaiden Coonan, Tim Aye-Hardy, Ben White, parava, Dalibor Mahel, Damian Gruber, David Myo Aung, Marcus Allender, Jochen Meissner, Jacob, Don Stringman, Elisabeth Schwab, Khin Maung Htwe, Vicky Bowman, Don Wright, Elisabetta Bernardini, Erik Dreyer, Florian James Hayton, Jeremiah Whyte and Jon Boos, Gabriella Wortmann, Garth Riddell, Gerd Keesecker.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduce : Akha in Thailand
    Introduce : Akha in Thailand This article comes from the book- “study and the culture of Akha in Chiangrai: 8 groups of Akha tribe – 2003. Akha is the name of the people of a hilltribe that have their own language, beliefs, clothes and way of living. The 8 groups have basic similarities but some even have a different language; like the Ulow Akha and the Aker Akha, who do not understand each other. The 8 Akha groups of Thailand are: 1.Uloh Akha The Uloh Akha is a Thai Akha. This group was the first to move to the north of Thailand and stay, moving to DoiTung, Maefahluang. This group is very big and is mostly in Chiangrai, also moving to Chiangmai. The government gives 2 Thai Akhas the opportunity to develop their village; the Akha village at DoiSanjai, Maefahluang and the Akha village at Doisangow Chinagsan district. Chiangrai. 'Uloh' means a sharp hat, with the 'U' from Udoo meaning a sharp, high circle. The name is given to the Akha by the hat that they wear and this is a prominent group for their hats. The Thai Akha are a large number in Thailand with around 32,500 people spreading around the 5 provinces of Chiangrai, Chiangmai,Lamphang, Prae and Tak in the north of Thailand. Some of these people retain their traditional beliefs, respecting their ancestor spirits and others changed to buddism, Christianity and Islam. Sanjaroengao has the largest population of Akha people. The Uloh Akha language has become the standard between Akha people and is used to communicate between different groups.
    [Show full text]
  • Kachin Internal Displacement at the China-Myanmar Border
    Interfaces and the politics of humanitarianism: Kachin internal displacement at the China-Myanmar border Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho [email protected] Post-print version Published in Journal of Refugee Studies https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fey017 Abstract: Studying interfaces directs attention to the processes through which an array of social actors and regimes come into a constellation of relations and create webs of connection that impact humanitarian intervention and the lives of displaced people. This paper illuminates the politics of humanitarianism evinced during Kachin internal displacement at the China-Myanmar border. Since 2011 conflict between the Myanmar (Burma) military and Kachin separatists has precipitated internal displacement in northern Myanmar. Apart from the Kachin struggle for autonomy, a resource war is also fuelling the conflict. Many IDPs flock to the China-Myanmar border for safety but those that try to cross the border into China are barred by the Chinese police. The interfaces examined here reveal the constraints posed during the delivery of humanitarian aid, but also signal the connections that bring displaced populations and an array of social groups together, while keeping in view the global power geometries through which such connections are forged. Introduction As a large bowl of steaming white rice was served for dinner, the conversation between my dining companions switched spontaneously from English to the Jingphaw language. Curious, I enquired about the topic of their conversation. They explained, ‘we are discussing the quality of the rice at this restaurant’. The two Kachin men stood up and went to the kitchen doorway where unopened gunny sacks of rice laid.
    [Show full text]
  • Kachin State WATCH
    H U M A N R I G H T S “UNTOLD MISERIES” Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Kachin State WATCH “Untold Miseries” Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Burma’s Kachin State Copyright © 2012 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-874-0 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org MARCH 2012 1-56432-874-0 “Untold Miseries” Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Burma’s Kachin State Map of Burma ...................................................................................................................... i Detailed Map of Kachin State .............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Myanmar Issue Brief No
    CHINA, THE UNITED STATES AND THE KACHIN CONFLICT GREAT POWERS AND THE CHANGING MYANMAR ISSUE BRIEF NO. 2 JANUARY 2014 [UPDATED] China, the United States and the Kachin Conflict By Yun Sun This issue brief examines the development of the Kachin conflict in northern Myanmar’s Kachin and Shan states, the negotiations between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Myan- mar government, and the roles China and the United States have played in the conflict. KEY FINDINGS: 1 The prolonged Kachin conflict is a 3 The disagreements on terms have 5 Promoting national peace and major obstacle to Myanmar’s national hindered a formal cease-fire. In ad- reconciliation is a pillar of the US reconciliation and a challenging test dition, the existing economic inter- policy toward Myanmar. However, the for the democratization process. est groups profiting from the armed United States is being very careful not conflict have further undermined the to impose itself into the peace process prospect for progress. itself, including Kachin talks, given 2 The KIO and the Myanmar the government’s sensitivity that the government differ on the priority process remains an internal affair of between the cease-fire and the political 4 China intervened in the Kachin ne- the country. dialogue. Without addressing this gotiations in 2013 to protect its national difference, the nationwide peace interests. A crucial motivation was a accord proposed by the government concern about the “internationaliza- will most likely lack the KIO’s tion” of the Kachin issue and the poten- participation. tial US role along the Chinese border.
    [Show full text]
  • NORTHEASTERN MYANMAR Myanmar Northeastern 170 © Lonelyplanetpublications Putao Justforstarters
    © Lonely Planet Publications 170 www.lonelyplanet.com NORTHEASTERN MYANMAR •• Climate 171 Northeastern CLIMATE and more bearable the higher up you go; this Parts of this region have the most pleasant also makes the region favourable for opium climate in the country, attested to by the fact cultivation. In the far north it gets downright Myanmar that the British built several hill stations in cold at night – the snowcapped mountains the area so that the colonial authorities could are a dead giveaway for frigid temperatures. escape from the oppressive heat of the low- Temperatures can also drop to near zero at lands. Even during the hot season (March to night in the highlands around Inle Lake dur- June) daytime temperatures become more ing December and January. From the muddy crawl of the Ayeyarwady River to the rapids rolling down from the Hima- 0 200 km laya, and then on to the watery vision of Inle Lake and the switchback roads that carve NORTHEASTERN MYANMAR 0 120 miles through mountain passes, revealing hills and rice paddies on the other side, this geographi- TIBET Hkakabo Razi cally and culturally diverse landlocked region is a world unto itself. (5889m) Tezu INDIA Large swaths of this territory, extending from Tibet in the north to Thailand in the south, Malihka CHINA Dibrugarh and encompassing Shan, Kachin and Kayah states, remain unexplored by foreigners, as Maykha they’re officially off limits or simply too demanding to access for many. Putao River Jorhat Hukaung River For the most part, people live in the valleys formed by the Ayeyarwady and Thanlwin Mon Valley Rivers and their tributaries, which divide Kachin and Shan States down the middle.
    [Show full text]
  • Myanmar's Education Reforms
    Myanmar’s Education Reforms Myanmar’s Education Reforms A pathway to social justice? Marie Lall First published in 2020 by UCL Press University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT Available to download free: www.uclpress.co.uk Text © Author, 2021 Images © Author and copyright holders named in captions, 2021 Marie Lall has asserted her rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library. This book is published under a Creative Commons 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Lall, M. 2020. Myanmar’s Education Reforms: A pathway to social justice? London: UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787353695 Further details about Creative Commons licences are available at http://creative commons.org/licenses/ Any third-party material in this book is published under the book’s Creative Commons licence unless indicated otherwise in the credit line to the material. If you would like to re-use any third-party material not covered by the book’s Creative Commons licence, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. ISBN: 978-1-78735-404-3 (Hbk.) ISBN: 978-1-78735-387-9 (Pbk.) ISBN: 978-1-78735-369-5 (PDF) ISBN: 978-1-78735-410-4 (epub) ISBN: 978-1-78735-416-6 (mobi) DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787353695 For those who were part of this 16-year research journey: the Egress sisterhood – Nan Theingi, Khin Moe Samm, Thei Su San, Phyo Thandar and my Myanmar family – Aung Htun, Nwe Nwe San and their daughter Mia.
    [Show full text]