Resource information
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:-
(1) TO MYANMAR LAWYERS:
"a. Lawyers need to form strong networks and associations to support farmers, ethnic groups and community organizations...
b. Lawyers need to develop new skills to participate in policy advocacy, including collecting data about current practices, and engage in a national debate about land rights...
c. Lawyers working on land rights cases need to use all available tools to strengthen their case work (see annex 2 for a list of practical actions lawyers can take).....
(2) TO CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS:
a. CSO’s need to work with lawyers to understand the law regarding land ownership and use, how it is being applied and how it can be used to protect land rights and should share this knowledge with communities...
b. CSOs should be involved in collecting evidence of the current relationships between communities and land; this will be essential for developing good policies and new laws.....
(3) TO INTERNATIONAL DONORS:
a. Donors must look beyond the letter of the law and information produced by the government to explore how laws are currently being applied and how the legal system operates in practice. Many challenges faced by lawyers working on land rights cases would not require legal reform to correct; international donors should demand immediate changes to remove some of the existing barriers to justice...
b. International donors must translate information relating to land rights into Burmese as a minimum. Understanding of these issues and ongoing reform processes within Myanmar is currently very limited, with residents of Yangon and other cities able to access information far easier than people in rural areas; efforts need to be made to address geographic and ethnic differences in understanding.
