Country: Myanmar

Group: Kachin/Jingpo/Singpho

Date Finalized: 10/05/21

Team: Natasha Chandra (lead), Li-Chen Hou, Zaida Arellano Reyes

Content Warning: violence

Approximate Time Period: 1985-present

Existing evidence supports that the Kachin/Jingpo/Singpho people in Myanmar continue to suffer from forced displacement. We rate the data quality a 2 of 3 because there are accounts of the forced displacement of the Kachin from a wide array of sources.

The Kachin belong to the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family and live in the northern part of Myanmar on the border with China, mainly in Kachin state (Minority Rights Group, 2015). The majority of Kachin are Christians, while the others practice animism or Buddhism (Minority Rights Group, 2015). In 1988, the State Law and Order Restoration Council began to conclude ceasefire agreements with neighboring groups which then concentrated military actions against Kachin rebels (Minority Rights Group, 2015). Due to this, by 1994 the Kachin Independent Organization decided to enter into a ceasefire, which led to some independent control by the Kachin state (Minority Rights Group, 2015). After 1994, logging and mining activities took a toll on the natural environment in the Kachin State, and reports claim the military was responsible (Minority Rights Group, 2015). Military officials sold permits for gold-mining in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in the northern Kachin State, leading to the displacement of thousands of local inhabitants (Minority Rights Group, 2015). Almost 50 clashes between the military and the Kachin Independence Army occurred, displacing nearly 5,000 people and damaging several homes (United Nations, 2021; Delahunty, 2020). Ongoing conflicts have displaced roughly 120,000 Kachin in Kachin state and Shan states (BBC News, 2018), and Kachin State has hosted about 95,000 internally displaced persons in long-term camps since 2011, where the height of the reported displacements was in September 2018 (United Nations, 2021).

Sources

  1. BBC News. (2018, April 28). Myanmar violence: Thousands flee fresh fighting in Kachin state. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43933332
  2. Delahunty, L. (2020, June 1). Displacement and Migration in Kachin State During COVID-19: COVID-19 Response in Kachin State. Unicef. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/myanmar/stories/displacement-and-migration-kachin-state-during-covid-19    
  3. Minority Rights Group. (2015, June 19). Kachin. Minority Rights Group. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/kachin/ 
  4. United Nations. (2021, April 28). Renewed Clashes Displace Thousands in Myanmar, UN Reports. United Nations News. Retrieved https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1090802