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New Face of Political Prisoners

Insin Prision via wikicommons

Over the past few years, Myanmar has very publicly pushed the image of political prisoner release. In fact, over the past few years the country has released over 100 political prisoners. Last month President Thein Sein released 6,966 prisoners on a presidential pardon, however, only 13 political prisoners were among them.  

In 2013, Thein Sein stated that all political prisoners would be released by the end of that year. To date, 158 still remain in prison and a growing number are awaiting trial - currently over 444 people. People on this list include monks, protesters, lawyers, journalists, civilians connected to protesters.

The term political prisoner usually invokes a specific image: an older military opposition leader, or maybe a wealthy influential politician and family, or even a religious leader and protesters. But in countries like Myanmar, where illegal land grabs is normally conducted by government, their cronies, and armed groups, the face of political prisoners is increasingly becoming the everyday farmer and land rights activists. Land related arrests are often linked to government interests or individual government official’s relationship to business interests.

Recently the government arrested a prominent land rights advocate in Karen State. U Saw Maung Gyi was arrested August 7^th under the section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act. Farmers and activists sleeping at the 88 Karen Generation Student Organization office, where U Saw Maung Gyi worked, were arrested and fined for “staying overnight outside their home district without government permission”.

Illegal land grabs have a number of impacts on the environment, on the communities, and the country as a whole. Environmental impacts of illegally grab lands include unregulated land use by occupying groups, continued illegal activities such as logging or mining, and often a transition from low environmental impact farming to high industrial inputs. Communities suffer from population loss and dismantling of community networks. Illegal land grabs lead to high numbers of displacement it often involves private or military security forces and violent interactions.

Additionally there are macro level impacts to land grabbing. Large international corporations looking to begin work in Myanmar are increasingly under the pressure to have clean land transactions along the entire supply chain. For example, Coca Cola’s supplier was accused of land grabbing in Cambodia. As a result Coca Cola is reportedly leading the “zero tolerance for land grabs globally”. The company plans to invest $200 million USD but still faces challenges. Land grab challenges in which business may face in Myanmar can dissuade large investment in the face of poor public opinion and expensive lawsuit.  

To address land grabs, reforms on a number of fronts must occur. A necessary first step is legal reform. The Vacant, Fallow, and Virgin Land Law (2012), Farmland Law 2012, 2008 Constitution, and Land Acquisition Act of 1894 all have sections addressing land use. Protections need to be better defined and mechanisms for complains need to be established and accessible. Investment laws must also address land confiscation. Local and foreign companies need to be held legally accountable. Additionally, enforcement of the laws must include an educated police force in the current relevant laws.

In addition to reforms, accountability mechanisms must be in place. Local, state, and national government systems must have ways to report and contest stolen lands by individuals, businesses, and the government itself. This includes not arresting villagers and farmers for peaceful protests. Independent assessments and transparency on development projects in preliminary planning to project completion should be available to the public. Effective documentation and transparency can reduce risks of land grabs and confrontation.

Finally, the existence of political prisoners must end. The arbitrary arrest of land rights advocates “exemplifies the government’s persecution of vocal opponents of land grabs by officials and their business associates”. The very existence of political prisoners perpetuate these arbitrary arrests and will most likely continue to be used as a standard by individual government officials.