Ethnic Minorities and Armed Conflict
Non-international armed conflict between ethnic minority armed opposition groups in the
border areas and the central Bamar-dominated Government broke out shortly after
independence in 1948.327 Bitter and protracted conflict has continued ever since. A
nationwide peace process is currently ongoing, with involvement of the Government and
16 ethnic armed groups. A nationwide ceasefire accord is under negotiation, with the aim
of signing the accord by August 2014; however, this timeframe may not be met. The next
step of the process will be a structured political dialogue involving not only ethnic armed
groups, but other national stakeholders.
In its decades-long counter-insurgency campaigns against various ethnic minority armed
opposition groups, the Myanmar army has committed a wide range of violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law. As troops entered ethnic minority
villages, they seized foodstuffs, destroyed villages, used civilians for forced labour,
particularly portering, killed and tortured civilians, and forcibly displaced them. Armed
ethnic minority opposition groups have also committed abuses, although to a lesser
degree.328
Ethnic grievances have centred on these abuses; the lack of self-governance and
resource sharing with the central Government; discrimination and marginalisation; religion;
and lack of education in ethnic minority languages. Many ethnic minority leaders believe
that the Burman-dominated central government instituted a policy of “Burmanisation”,
which has resulted in suppression of ethnic minority cultures, languages and religions and
ethnic people being treated as “second-class citizens”.3 Conflict has greatly inhibited economic development in the ethnic border areas, and
poverty rates in these areas are high. For example 73% of the population in Chin State
lives below the poverty line, 44% in Rakhine State (though the World Bank’s
reinterpretation of the data suggests a rate of 77.9%) and 33% in Shan State; the national
poverty rate is 26% (the World Bank’s reinterpretation of the data reveals a 37.5% rate –
see Part 4.2 on Communities).330 At the same time ethnic minority states are rich in
natural resources, including minerals and gems, hardwoods, and hydropower; there are
also natural gas deposits off-shore from these states that are national assets, though the
residents of these areas do not necessarily see it that way. Significant natural gas
deposits are present in Myanmar territorial waters off the coasts of Rakhine and Mon
States and Tanintharyi and Ayeyarwady Regions.
Ceasefires have made land more available to commercial interests, some of which are
linked to the central Government and the military. Ethnic minority armed groups also have
business interests in their territories. At the same time these areas are highly militarised,
including Myanmar army troops and allied militias,331 ethnic minority armed groups, and
armed criminal elements. This has resulted in very poor land governance, with a
heightened risk of land grabs, instability and a climate of fear.
332 Future demining
operations that make land more accessible and commercially valuable will likely
exacerbate these risks (see further Part 4.3 on Land).