Incident Location (Village, Township and District)

On August 13th 2019, a local villager from Y--- told me that there was a sign on her land saying that it was going to be confiscated. On the same day, I interviewed her and took pictures of the sign. On August 24th 2019, I went to check the situation by myself.

On August 13rd 2019, KHRG was informed that the KNU/KNLA-PC had confiscated one acre of land belonging to a local villager in Y--- village, Htoh Kaw Koh village tract, T'Nay Hsah (Nabu) Township, Hpa-An District. The victim is a villager named Naw U---. She lives with five other family members, including four children. KHRG was not able to obtain information about the Battalion involved or the exact date of the land confiscation.

The KNU/KNLA-PC confiscated this land located beside her farm to build a playground for their school. They did not let the land owner know about it, and put a sign that says “Do not trespass” on her land. After that they levelled the ground and cut the trees. Three acres of her lands had already been confiscated in 2007 when the KNU/KNLA-PC established their headquarters in Htoh Kaw Koh village.

Naw U--- has a Karen National Union (KNU)[4] land ownership certificate. She showed it to the KNU/KNLA-PC, without result. She used to pay land taxes to the KNU but, two years ago, the local village head said she did not need to pay taxes anymore because her lands had been confiscated by the KNU/KNLA-PC already.

As a villager, she felt powerless to take any action and she dared not do anything. She reported the most recent case of land confiscation to the village head and Township authorities, but they could not help her. Naw U--- did not receive any compensation for the loss of her lands. She is now worried that more of her farmland will be confiscated in the future.