The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone
Introduction
The Thilawa Women’s Group was formed based on the need of women and youths in Thilawa, where women’s rights areunderrepresented and they have little active participation in the field of social development. Although the women in Thilawa havedirectly been suffering from the impacts of the investment project, their voices are not being considered in discussions, forums or in
the decision making process. The Thilawa Women’s Group aims to expose the ongoing human rights abuses, to resolve the current
impacts of the projects on women, to prevent future harmful impacts of the projects on women and to ensure women are able tocollaborate and contribute to overcoming the problems faced in this community. The Thilawa Women’s Group has regularly held
meetings, exchanges, helped build the local capacity building, engaged with community organizing and documented the ongoingsituation as it affects women and the wider community.

Rational Background
Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is located in Thanlyin- Kyauk Tan township, 23 kilometers south of Yangon. The project is a jointventure (JV) project between Japan and Myanmar governments, with 51% of shares owned by Myanmar, while Japan holds the restof the shares. The project is divided into two zones, Zone A and Zone B. Zone A covers 400 hectares of land, while the Zone B covers
2000 hectares of land. In Zone A, the factories are already running. In Zone B, 260 hectares of land is already being used by the projectsince 2016. In the early months of 2013, the communities from 8 villages, spread over 2400 hectares of land, received a notice letter
asking them to move to the relocation area within 14 days, with the letter stating they could be detained in jail for a month if not.
Therefore, the communities had no choice but to move to the current relocation area in both 2013 and 2016. Around 150 families
from both Zone A and Zone B have already relocated. The communities, from Zone A, in the relocation area have been facing many
challenges and difficulties as they were not given the opportunity to participate in the discussions, arranging the resettlement workplan, planning of the area designated for relocation, or in the general decision making processes as conducted by the SEZ management
committee. The community didn’t have access to information and preparation for relocation because the government failed to follow
the best practices outlined for the resettlement plan.
The current situation of relocated families:

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone
Over 6 years after relocating, the project affected people (PAPs) have been facing lots of problems because their livelihood is basedon natural resources and many agricultural activities. The land has been urbanized, without access to traditional agricultural based
livelihoods. PAPs have now had to get mortgages on their houses and around 50% of relocated families have lost their houses andproperties due to a lack of consistent income, no access to livelihood opportunities, the loss of small scale agriculture due to smaller
houses and yards with inadequate space to farm, and other issues related to having no regular stable employment. A directconsequence of these issues is that the family cannot afford for their children to go to the school and received educational
opportunities.
The current situation of un-relocated families:
The main livelihoods of the community members in Thilawa are agricultural, such as paddy farming, flower farming, betel nut leaffarming, farming of seasonal vegetables, and small scale livestock farming as baffle, goats, chickens, ducks, and pigs. The rest of theirlivelihoods are related to running grocery shops, selling farmed goods and vegetables, and for some working in restaurants and as
textile workers.
According to the previous experience from the relocated people, the community members who haven’t relocated yet are concerned
about the potential negative impacts such as a loss of their livelihoods, a worsening situation with relation to living style or standards,and a loss of income due to a lack of natural resources. The lack of access to adequate information on the project, lack of public
participation in decision making, a lack of consideration of women and youth and their children’ education are all contributing to thecurrent and potential harmful impacts on the Thilawa community caused by the project.

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

“My house has a big garden, where I can grow seasonal fruits and vegetables for my family. The vegetables needn’t be bought fromthe market and the vegetables from my garden can be sold outside. I can peacefully meditate in my quiet yard.

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

“I can catch the shrimp and fish in the river anytime. I cook it for my family and also sell it to the villagers or the neighbors”,

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

There are enough spaces for small scale livestock farming in our area, but not in the relocation area.

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

The vegetables (to be boiled or raw) needn’t to be bought with cash. We can find and collect these vegetables such as mushrooms,bamboo and etc., in the jungle around our villages.

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

There are pretty enough spaces to grow the bamboo trees in our land so that we can collect and cook bamboo shoots anytime.
We can also sell one bamboo tree with one thousand kyats for construction of houses and other buildings, and the price depends
on type of bamboo. It costs high price if the quality of bamboo is good.

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

The bamboo for building houses and French, and the wood for cooking needn’t to be bought from the market and those can becollected easily around our area.

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

I don’t entirely want to move from this area. We have regular income because it is easy to earn our livelihood such as agriculture
and livestock farming in our area.

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone
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“The house in the resettlement area is 25 x 50 square feet. There is no enough space for agriculture in the resettlement area andthe neighbors complained about the smell of my farming when I did livestock farming because the houses are very closed toeach.”

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

“When I visit other villages where the people are not forced to move to therelocation area, it makes me feel sad as I recall my originally former home with big
garden, where I used to live and farm. There are differences between living in theoriginal area and relocation area. It’s even difficult to dry our laundry clothes.”

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone

“It’s not easy to do agriculture and farming around our area because the factories are becoming to get very closed to the villages. The amountof production of paddy farming is now going down because it messed up and block the irrigation system for the farms due to the huge projectbuildings.”

Recommendations

The Voice of Women in Thilawa Special Economic Zone
To the Myanmar Government and JICA••••

Based on the principles of meaningful engagement and dialogue, listen to the voices of the Project Affected People tobuild a resettlement work plan.
Provide effective/appropriate vocational trainings and create job opportunities that are in place before theimplementation of the resettlement plan.
There should be a specific plan for Project Affected People to access job opportunities before or during or after
resettlement, with priority being given to ensuring women undertake employment.
When offering remedies for the harm caused, such as compensation, all Project Affected People s must be treated in afair and appropriate manner, with remedies provided without bias or favoritism.

To Companies currently investing and planning to invest in Thilawa SEZ•••••

Not to neglect the impacts of the projects on the local residents.
To engage with the local residents and add specific sections and opportunities for women in the discussion; in order toaccurately access information fromby all aspects of the local community, and to share the right information to the localresidents.
Review the lessons learned from the previous resettlement situation so as not to repeat the same mistakes made in
Thilawa SEZ.
Create a mechanism for problem solving in Thilawa SEZ that is accessible, fair and benefits all aspects of the community.
For those who are planning to invest in Thilawa SEZ, consider resolving the negative impacts and problems local residents
already affected by the projects are facing, prior to making investments