Based on its findings, the Tribunal makes
the following recommendations:
1. On
the Urgency of Food Scarcity:
All parties must recognize the
urgency of Burma’s food scarcity before it reaches a
crisis. Steps should be taken immediately, in accordance with
the recommendations below.
2. To the Government
of the Union of Myanmar:
Under international law, all States
share a fundamental obligation to safeguard the well-being of
their people; this obligation includes ensuring the
availability of food. The Government of the Union of Myanmar
must address widespread food scarcity throughout the country
by giving highest priority to food security as a basic human
right, and by:
a. guaranteeing the rights
of farmers to possess and use arable farmland and
agricultural products to achievefood security;
b. guaranteeing that the
State will not interfere where people who have been
internally displaced attempt to return to their original
lands and resume agriculture conducive to food security;
c. guaranteeing that
refugees displaced by conflict can return to their original
lands and resume agriculture conducive to food security.
3. To other
parties engaged in Burma’s armed
conflict:
All parties whose participation in
armed conflict affects civilians’ access to food must
recognize that food security is a fundamental right which can
never be denied, regardless of political and military
circumstances. Where their military action affects the food
supply, all armed parties must make protecting and promoting
food security among civilians a higher priority than
provisioning combatants.
4. To
all civilian individuals, organizations and political parties
planning for political change:
All such parties working
towards political change within Burma, as well as those
working for change from outside the country, must first
recognize the contribution and the importance of farmers to
Burma’s past, present and future. Burma is an agrarian
society with an economy dependent on subsistence agriculture.
All economic policy must address the well-being of
farmers—particularly small and subsistence
farmers—and protect and promote their fundamental role
in feeding the nation by reinforcing their basic rights to
land, labor and economic self-determination.
Consequently, all parties working towards
political change must emphasize food security as a national
issue affecting all people regardless of race, religion,
location or political belief. Any program for conflict
resolution, political change, democratization or the
transition to civilian rule must include economic policies
which respect small farmers as the backbone of Burma’s
agricultural economy and promote their interests.
5. To
the international community:
a. To State
Governments:
The international community must, to
fulfil the obligations specified by Article 11 of the
International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural
Rights, promote food security, and therefore must:
- accept the importance of food security
as a fundamental human rights issue in Burma;
- study the nature and all causes of the
food scarcity situation, with due recognition of the
military’s role in creating food scarcity;
- exert influence on the Government of
Myanmar to recognize that denial of food is a human
rights violation of the most serious and fundamental
type, and to guarantee and safeguard food security
for all people.
b. To the United
Nations:
As global promoter of human
rights, and as the forum for State governments, the United
Nations must in its relationship to Burma strive to realize
the principle declared in Article 1 (2) of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
All peoples may, for their own ends, freely
dispose of their natural wealth and resources without
prejudice to any obligations arising out of international
economic co-operation, based on the principle of mutual
benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be
deprived of its own means of subsistence.
c. To International
NGOs:
International non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) seeking to support peace, conflict
resolution, democratization, human rights or development in
Burma should recognize the fundamental role economic, social
and cultural rights play in promoting popular participation
and political and social empowerment. Awareness and
attainment of the right to food, land, housing, health care
and education are critical to building a free and open
society.
6. On
the Criminal Implications of Creating Food Scarcity:
Through the systematic
militarization of Burmese society, the Government of Myanmar
is largely responsible for food scarcity. The government may
be considered guilty of a crime against humanity, punishable
under international law. If the government and other
concerned parties fail to reverse this consistent denial of
the right to food, it falls within the scope and obligation
of international law to investigate.
