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TABLE OF CONTENTS:-
1. Food Security from a Rights-based Perspective;
2. Local Observations from the States and Divisions
of Eastern Burma:-
2.1 Tenasserim Division
(Committee for Internally Displaced Karen Persons);
2.2 Mon State (Mon Relief and Development Committee);
2.3 Karen State (Karen Human Rights Group)
2.4 Eastern Pegu Division (Karen Office of Relief and Development);
2.5 Karenni State (Karenni Social Welfare Committee);
2.6 Shan State (Shan Human Rights Foundation)...
3. Local Observations of Issues Related to Food Security:-
3.1 Crop Destruction as a Weapon of War (Committee for Internally Displaced Karen Persons);
3.2 Border Areas Development (Karen Environmental & Social Action Network);
3.3 Agricultural Management(Burma Issues);
3.4 Land Management (Independent Mon News Agency)
3.5 Nutritional Impact of Internal Displacement (Backpack Health Workers Team);
3.6 Gender-based Perspectives (Karen Women’s Organisation)...
4. Field Surveys on Internal Displacement and Food Security...
Appendix 1 : Burma’s International Obligations
and Commitments...
Appendix 2 : Burma’s National Legal Framework...
Appendix 3 : Acronyms, Measurements and Currencies....
"...Linkages between militarisation and food scarcity in Burma were
established by civilian testimonies from ten out of the fourteen states and
divisions to a People’s Tribunal in the late 1990s. Since then the scale of
internal displacement has dramatically increased, with the population in
eastern Burma during 2002 having been estimated at 633,000 people, of
whom approximately 268,000 were in hiding and the rest were interned
in relocation sites. This report attempts to complement these earlier
assessments by appraising the current relationship between food security
and internal displacement in eastern Burma. It is hoped that these
contributions will, amongst other impacts, assist the Asian Human Rights
Commission’s Permanent People’s Tribunal to promote the right to food
and rule of law in Burma...
Personal observations and field surveys by community-based organisations
in eastern Burma suggest that a vicious cycle linking the deprivation of
food security with internal displacement has intensified. Compulsory paddy
procurement, land confiscation, the Border Areas Development program
and spiraling inflation have induced displacement of the rural poor away
from state-controlled areas. In war zones, however, the state continues to
destroy and confiscate food supplies in order to force displaced villagers
back into state-controlled areas. An image emerges of a highly vulnerable
and frequently displaced rural population, who remain extremely resilient
in order to survive based on their local knowledge and social networks.
Findings from the observations and field surveys include the following:...
