BURMA: More farmers complain about illegal destruction of crops 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received documents and information from the Yoma 3 news service (Thailand) that another group of farmers in the delta region of Burma have complained that crops have been flooded due to the destruction of irrigation embankments by local officials. In recent times, other complaining farmers or their supporters have themselves been prosecuted. Close attention to this case is needed to see that the farmers’ complaint is heard and that they are not threatened by local authorities.

On 31 July 2006 farmer Ko Tin Aung on behalf of himself and 12 others submitted letters of complaint to the departments of agriculture and fisheries in Burma. In his complaints he said that on July 8 local administration officials together with some workers came and illegally destroyed irrigation embankments in Set-hsan village tract of Bogalay that had been used since 1995. As a result, 86 acres of rainy season paddy crops were flooded out of a total 463 acres being cultivated by the 13 farmers.

Tin Aung notes in his letters that on June 30 the fisheries department had ordered the demolition of embankments where it would not cause damage to the paddy crop, in consultation with concerned farmers. But he says that none of the 13 farmers who lost their crops were consulted by the authorities before they broke the embankments.

According to various sources, the reason for the destruction of the embankments is to make use of the water, under contract, for fisheries.

One source has said that after Tin Aung repaired and replanted the 30 acres of his own land that were flooded then a team of officials–including some involved in the original action–came to see and take photographs, allegedly threatening him that they would lodge a case against him for making a false complaint, like other persons in the region who have dared to do so.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The AHRC has already reported on how U Tin Nyein, also from Bogalay, was in March sentenced to 2 years’ jail for complaining about destruction of his crops by the authorities there (UA-155-2006).

Similarly, in August U Tin Kyi was sentenced to four months in jail for supposedly insulting government authorities over a government agricultural project also involving concessions to a businessman (UA-292-2006).

In December 2005 two other farmers in Bogalay, U Aye Min and U Win Nyunt, were sentenced to jail for complaining about extortion of money from farmers by local officials (UA-071-2006 and UP-054-2006).

And lawyer U Aye Myint who helped farmers in Pegu lodge a similar complaint was himself jailed as a result and only released after heavy international pressure (UA-119-2005; UP-125-2006; UP-139-2006).

These are just a handful of cases from a few areas of Burma. Across most of the country, farmers face coercive government practices, many of which were documented in detail in the 1999 Voice of the Hungry Nation report of the People’s Tribunal on Food Scarcity and Militarisation in Burma, as well as the lack of opportunities for complaint against officials in that country. Increasingly, short-sighted, ill-advised and thoroughly corrupted joint projects between government ministries and “national entrepreneurs” are causing serious misery to farmers in the country. See for instance a recent article in The Irrawaddy magazine (Thailand) on the authorities’ enthusiasm for growing physic (castor oil) plants: A nutty idea.

Further discussion on these and related topics can be found on the AHRC Burma homepage: http://burma.ahrchk.net.

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SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the agriculture minister calling for a proper investigation into the complaint of Ko Tin Aung, and to ensure that there is no punitive action taken against him.

Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma, and Irrawaddy as Ayeyawaddy.

Please also note that–as many readers will be aware–government ministries in Burma have in recent times been relocated to the new capital of “Naypyitaw” in the centre of the country. Until such a time as the AHRC has reliable contact information for ministries there, we are continuing to use the addresses in the former capital.

 

 

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