Anew report from the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG] chronicling land confiscations in southeast Myanmar has found affected villagers blame army, government and business officials among others for abuses.

The report, based on 126 reports from between December 2012 and last January and released on June 30, contains first-person accounts of land confiscation and its effects on Kayin areas, as well as descriptions of what locals have done to take on the “widespread” issue.

According to the villagers surveyed, Myanmar government officials, the Tatmadaw, Kayin Border Guard Forces, domestic and foreign corporate actors, wealthy individuals, and ethnic armed groups have perpetrated abuses. The KHRG report asserts that residents mostly had no say before projects were implemented and that they were not generally compensated for losses. If compensation was provided, it was often too little or hadn't yet been handed out, the report said.

“Now look at our ancestors’ land that has been given to us - it is all being destroyed,” said a female villager quoted in the report, who was interviewed in November 2014. “They do business and get money. For us we have to sacrifice, suffer, and we get nothing out of it.”

Land confiscation cases have remained prevalent due, in part, to an accord reached by the government and the Karen National Union (KNU] in January 2012, and the rush of domestic and international interest and investment in the southeast that followed, according to the report.

“Within the Karen context ... the 2012 preliminary ceasefire has allowed for access to, and the confiscation of, land that was previously inaccessible, without addressing the issue of land tenure rights in southeast Myanmar,” the KHRG report states.

In one case, the ceasefire is described as setting the stage for property damage.

“Villagers reported that due to the KNU signing the preliminary ceasefire ... [they] allowed the government to construct and repair bridges and three concrete vehicle roads,” the report said. “[The companies] widened the narrow parts of the roads and straightened the curves ... as a result, the farms and plantations of some villagers were destroyed.”

Most villager reports pin land confiscation to infrastructure and natural resource extraction projects, and to a lesser extent to commercial agriculture projects and military endeavours.

Fifty-six reports peg 68 cases of land confiscation to infrastructure projects, with road construction the most common offender. Meanwhile, 55 reports tie land confiscation to natural resource extraction; gold mining was depicted in just under half.

Eighteen reports linked 21 cases of land confiscation issues to commercial agriculture projects, and the KHRG obtained 22 reports on 10 instances of “land confiscation by armed actors in order to build new camps, expand existing ones, and build housing for the families of soldiers, as well as for commercial projects to fund military activities”.

The report says that land confiscation and associated issues can lead to income loss and unemployment, the poisoning of water resources, skin and respiratory diseases, homelessness and economic migration among other issues - all problems villagers testified to.

“Villagers relied on streams for their water, including drinking water, but now the gold mining companies take projects on the upper parts of streams,” said Saw Albert, a KHRG field director.

“When the streams are only left as mud, companies moved further upriver. Now, villagers suffer from skin, throat and lung problems,” he said.

“Another land-grabbing issue is Karen armed groups, as they build barracks and confiscate land for businesses used to raise funds for their armies.”

In one notable instance, a monk’s stand against logging was met with murder, according to the report.

“In the past [the KNU/KNLA-Peace Council] wanted to do logging in a garden. The monk did not let him do the logging.” said a male villager, quoted in the report and interviewed in October of 2014.

“On October 9 [the] monk was arrested ... After they brought monk to the army camp they went to Ka Nuh Hta road. They went one furlong away and hit and burnt his back and then killed him.”

Though village voices have regularly been excluded from processes around projects and at times ignored after land was impacted, locals have striven to make themselves heard. Villagers have engaged in negotiation, lobbying and outreach in order to help tackle land confiscation issues, the report says - and have encountered some success.

Hpa-an township, a company hoped to put up a cement factory. “They asked the opinion of the local armed actors,” the report says, quoting a situation update from a KHRG researcher. “The township leaders and some [KNU] officers ... had a meeting with the villagers.

“The villagers were asked whether they agreed to the building of the cement factory,” the update goes on. “No villagers liked the project, so they did not agree to it. Since the villagers did not give them permission, the KNU and KNLA leaders did not allow them to build the cement factory.”

However, the report asserts that most of those whose land has been confiscated have not been able to recover their land or obtain “full and fair” compensation, it said.

“After the ceasefire talks, the villagers reported land issues more than before. Doors opened for businessmen - in the past they did not come to the Karen State because of the conflict ... They approach those in authority and they took away the lands of the people. The companies came in, they have no arms, but then the villagers know who is behind them,” said Way Lay, an advocacy coordinator for KHRG.

U Kyaw Thu, founder of Paung Ku Forum, said land-grabbing issues were more common after the ceasefire because villagers now felt they could speak out about their problems.

“There are so many business projects in Karen State after the ceasefire, but before the ceasefire the villages were confiscated by both government and armed force armies,” he said. “The difference is that now villagerscan speak out to NGOs and it has become a well-known issue.”