This report provides an in-depth understanding of customary land dispute resolution in Kayin State, Eastern Bago Region and Shan State and its interaction with the formal statutory Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar(GORUM) system. A participatory community-based research approach was used to understand customary practices concerning land, including how land title is defined, enforced and how land disputes are contested, negotiated and resolved at the community level. Based on the perceptions of local people and village leaders in the three research sites, the report identifies current practices as well as prior work on this topic in Myanmar and seeks to identify ongoing dispute resolution mechanisms and practices used by communities in ethnic nationality areas with a view to informing policy and programming on restitution. Key to this analysis is the question of what a genuine restitution process might look like in Myanmar and how customary practices might be integrated into it. Furthermore, if a genuine restitution process was established, what realistic capacity is there to integrate customary dispute mechanisms and authorities into it. Based on in-depth qualitative research in 31 villages across 3 regions/states, it offers an insight into understandings of customary mechanisms that people use to…...

Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454) - Will be Offered 2-6 March 2020 at Monash Law School Human rights and access to justice, will be increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change. This will manifest in a multitude of ways, with the issue of climate displacement providing perhaps the most graphic example in this regard. The scale of climate displacement is likely to dwarf current levels of displacement throughout the world caused by conflict, disaster and poorly planned development projects. While estimates of the scale of future climate displacement are notoriously difficult to prove with any precision, it is certain that tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people will be forced by the consequences of climate change to flee their homes and lands, and in some instances, their countries. International and national laws and institutions are arguably not yet capable of ensuring that the rights of climate displaced persons will be fully respected. Offered in March 2020, Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454)will provide a state of the art, up to date overview of the links between human rights and climate change, the phenomena of climate displacement, an understanding of the dynamics of climate displacement, the countries which are now and in…...

Growing numbers of people are losing their homes and lands every day because of the effects of climate change. Climate displacement is happening now, and has been happening for many years. With some notable exceptions, the vast majority of governments the world over have thus far failed to protect the rights of climate displaced families and only a handful of States have policies and programmes in place to protect this new wave of displacement, which will be far, far larger than displacement associated with conflict and instability.  DS and our partners Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) in Bangladesh established The One House, One Family at a time project (OHOF) several years ago to provide quality homes to some of the most vulnerable climate displaced families in eastern Bangladesh. To date we have built four houses, with four additional houses under construction now. OHOF's third phase will commence in 2020 with the aim of constructing a further 12 homes, culminating in a total of 20 homes by the end of next year. With an average of five or six people per house, OHOF will have provided permanent new homes to more than 100 people by the end of 2020. Virtually…...

On 18 August 2019, the Peninsula Principles on Climate Displacement Within States will celebrate their sixth anniversary. The ravages of climate change and climate displacement continue to worsen, and in many respects are turning out to be more rapid, more severe and more widespread than initially predicted. We developed the Principles in 2013 to provide a clear framework grounded in pre-existing human rights law to enable governments to develop the policies and laws needed to protect the rights of the millions of people who will have to leave their homes because of climate change. While the world has a great distance to travel in transforming the ideals of the Principles into reality, to date they have taken root in an ever-growing array of institutions and agencies, with countless statements in support of the Principles coming from far and wide over the past six years, including many of the key officials within the UN working to address climate displacement. UN Climate Change Envoy (and former Irish President and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), Mary Robinson noted that "States facing climate-related displacement within their borders require significant financial support and technical expertise to develop solutions that provide for the rights of those affected. The Peninsula…...