Land Dispossession, Access to Justice and The Role of Community Based Organizations (CBOs): A Case Study of Maubin

Abstract

Land is the most important asset for Myanmar population dependent on access to land for their livelihoods. During the past several years, land dispossession has accelerated causing social, political and economic ramifications. Historical land dispossession also remains a significant challenge until the present day. This has provoked a response from civil society actors and farmers who have engaged with different approaches to battle land disputes. This thesis is a result of a qualitative field research utilizing various methods: documentary research, exploratory research, focus group discussions, in-depth and expert interviews all including 21 people and focused detail on three CBOs based on diverse approaches, having different levels of achievements and failure over the past several years. Maubin Township is one of the most land problem areas in Myanmar and CBOs are working to solve their problems. The analyses are made by looking at land tenure security and land dispossession, farmers’ access to justice for land losses, and the role of civil society organizations in promoting access to justice and eliminating land issues. Even though CBOs’ role in battling land issues and mobilizing farmers to promote their access to justice can be considered to have had positive impact, there are gaps and barriers in process and implementation. Farmers and CSOs have yet to see good results because there are restrictions created by the government’s centralized control and weak legal mechanisms. CBOs have used different approaches to promote farmers’ access to justice; however, their work is affected by their weaknesses, for instance the lack of strong coordination among themselves. There have also been cases where there was friction among themselves because of their political inclinations. Other civil society stakeholders focus their work on pushing forward better land laws and policies for the longer-term benefits. Even though this is a right approach, these groups need the government’s cooperation as the government is still in favor of using a controversial and manipulative mixture of old and new laws in accordance with the problematic constitution. This thesis argues that the work of CBOs has both strengths; using different strategies and awareness providers on land issues to communities, and weaknesses; less influence on land management bodies and companies and limited resources and their informal or casual way of working can affect their performances. To facilitate access to justice, CBOs should have better networking, managing community expectation and harm reduction among stakeholders, and cooperate formal or structured patterns with different level of stakeholders. Furthermore, Myanmar’s current legal mechanisms are struggling with corruption and inefficiency, therefore improving land laws and policies would be the key solution for the long-term gain and for mitigating land issues.