Land Rights: Global Campaign For Indigenous Communities

Aiming to gain a common understanding among different organizations and share the plans and activities on land management issues, a workshop on Global Call to Action on Indigenous and Community Land Rights was held in Yangon on Saturday. 

Global Call to Action on Indigenous and Community Land Rights is a worldwide campaign and today’s workshop is the first step of Myanmar getting involved in the Call.

The workshop focused on the recognition of land rights of ethnic nationalities or indigenous people and local communities as well as their opportunities and challenges. 

SECRETARY, SAI KHUR HSENG: Ethnic people are mostly encountering the challenges on their farmland rights. Their lands are not registered but they have recommendation letters relayed by their elders that they own and can manage it. But when some projects are about to implement in their lands, land grabbing issues have been emerged between the projects owners and land owners. 

The National Land Use Policy in Myanmar has been drafting since 2013, and the Government initiated a process of public consultation starting October 2014. 

The advocates hope the next government to include this issue in the policy, and solve the land issues of ethnics and recognizing their property.

DIRECTOR, PROMOTION OF INDIGENOUS AND NATURE TOGETHER, NAW EI EI MIN: If we cooperate with other organizations and give awareness to the ethnic peoples that they can call to action on their land rights and challenges and on their property, there will be a big change and we can share our experience with other countries. 

The campaign target to double the area of lands owned or managed by indigenous peoples and local community by 2020.