| “A Declaration of War on Us”: The 2018 VFV Law Amendment and its Impact on Ethnic Nationalities |
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A Commentary by TNI
The right to land for all peoples is essential for peace, democracy and development.
The recently adopted amendment by parliament to the 2012 Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law (VFV Law) has immediate, deep and far-reaching implications for many millions of rural working people in Myanmar, especially in ethnic nationality regions. The new law has also serious, negative consequences for the country’s development and the transition towards democracy, and ultimately for the prospects for a lasting peace in Myanmar.
Across Myanmar, but especially in ethnic borderland areas, the livelihoods and well-being of agrarian communities have, for centuries, been assured through traditional customary land and resource management systems. Many such systems continue to exist, and they command social legitimacy in regulating how people relate to each other and to land and resources at the village level. These systems involve community assertion of authority over the local land and resources, and regulation of their management and use. These systems are often informal, but there is clear understanding within and between villages what land can be used, by whom, for how long, and for what purposes.
These systems have come under several threats. In 2012 the then Thein Sein government adopted two new land laws: the Farmland Law and the VFV Law. These new land laws set the legal framework for largescale land grabs. The Farmland Law stipulates that land can be legally bought, sold and transferred on a land market with land use certificates (LUCs). The VFV Law legally allows the government to reallocate what in fact are villagers’ farm and forest lands to domestic and foreign investors. These territories include both upland shifting land, especially fallow, and lowlands that do not have official land title.
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