The Union of Myanmar is the ancestral home of over 100 different indigenous groups who have historically inhabited the land for generations. The various indigenous inhabitants of Myanmar having their own distinct cultures and religions, together constitute roughly 30 to 40 percent of the total population and occupy 57 percent of the entire landmass. For a country that is endowed with such a mixture of cultures and religions, the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is a significantly important day for Myanmar as the nation transitions towards a more open, democratic and equitable future.
This year brings home an important reminder that ten years ago Myanmar had joined the international community in adopting the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This historic documents sets out minimum standards of rights entitled to the nearly 400 million word’s indigenous peoples. As Myanmar seeks to rebuild a new federal democratic state and make amends with its own indigenous peoples, the need for respect for the rights and aspirations of over one-thirds of its populations becomes more important than ever.
The Myanmar Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Nationalities Network reaffirms our support for the ongoing peace process under the personal leadership of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. While we recognize that the pursuit for long term solutions requires time and patience, this should not distract from addressing in parallel the continuing and daily challenges faced by the indigenous peoples, involving our rights to lands, territories and natural resources, which are intrinsically related to our identity, well-being, collective survival and development.
We welcome the initiatives taken by the Union Ministry of Ethnic Affairs in developing a bylaw that will operationalize the provisions of the Ethnic Rights Protection Law of 2015 and the functions of the Ministry. We deeply appreciate the degree of openness and inclusion with which the Ministry has sought to engage major stakeholders in approaching the development of the bylaw.
To further complement the existing legal protections found in the Ethnic Rights Protection Law and Chapter 8 of the 2008 constitution, the Network urges the Government of Myanmar to draw a compressive National Action Plan with the participation of indigenous peoples, with the view to ensuring the full enjoyment of rights under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We reiterate our call for the Government of Myanmar to address the continuing violations of our collective rights as indigenous peoples, particularly our rights to our lands, territories and resources. To this end, we urge the government to enact a pertinent law giving full legal recognition of the rights to traditional land use and land tenure system of indigenous peoples.
We also call for the full observance of the Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures enacted by the Government of Myanmar in 2015, as well as the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) as provided in Article 5 of the Ethnic Rights Protection Law 2015, in any infrastructure or economic development activities and extraction of natural resources in the territories belonging to the ethnic indigenous peoples.
As Myanmar continues to transition to a more open and democratic state, the Myanmar Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Nationalities Network is committed to making constructive and positive contributions to the development of rights of indigenous peoples in Myanmar.
Myanmar Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Nationalities Network
Dated: 9 August 2017
