“The Farmer Becomes the Criminal”

Summary Some things are getting better. There is electricity in the next village, and we may get electricity here, too. But none of that matters if our land is gone. –Nu Yee, San Klo, Karen State, February 2015 The businessman takes the land from the farmer, but when the farmer protests, he becomes the criminal. –Lawyer, Hpa-an, Karen State, August 2015 In Burma, where 70 percent of people earn a living through agriculture, securing land is often equivalent to securing a livelihood. But instead of creating conditions for sustainable development, recent Burmese governments have enacted abusive laws, enforced poorly conceived policies, and encouraged corrupt land administration officials that...