A/HRC/43/18 military, extensively documented by women’s organizations over decades, and most recently by the Fact-Finding Mission, was part of this counter-insurgency strategy. 13. The conflicts in Myanmar have also been driven by economic interests as the military and some ethnic armed groups and militias have been competing for control of land and natural resources18. This has created hugely lucrative illegal economies and business concessions in logging, gems, minerals, wildlife trafficking, and drug -trafficking. Majority of the profits have gone to private interests of the military and political elite, as well as to paramilitary groups and foreign corporations19, while further depriving ethnic populations of economic opportunities and weakening social cohesion within the communities. 14. Severe horizontal inequalities exist between the ethnic border areas and the majority Burman-inhabited central region with regard to poverty levels, access to economic opportunities and public services. Ethnic States representing the geographical areas of seven main ethnic groups have historically received the smallest amounts of budget allocations on education in the country, and literacy rates in those areas are all below national average, the most prominent in Shan State at 75 per cent compared to the Union average of 90 per cent. 20 The current Government has been progressively increasing social spending, for instance with the introduction of cash transfer schemes in some of the poorest ethnic areas, such as Chin and Rakhine States, and prioritizing electrification and road connectivity in remote rural areas. Efforts to expand health care coverage and facilitate birth registration in Rakhine State, including through mobile teams, are underway. However, the “peace dividend” expected with the extension of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement21 has not materialized in many areas, as people live in-between Government and ethnic armed group control and the so-called interim arrangements for power sharing foreseen in the Agreement remain largely unfulfilled. 15. Over several decades, the conflicts have also generated waves of displacement of ethnic minority communities, both within Myanmar and to neighbouring countries (often in irregular and vulnerable situations), which has “hollowed out” ethnic minority areas. This has been compounded by prevalent land-grabbing, the harmful impact of extractive industries and infrastructure projects, as well as recurrent natural disasters. For instance, the 2012 “Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Law”, under which the State can reallocate land it labels as “vacant, fallow and virgin” (but which is often actively cultivated by farmers) to third parties,22 created widespread fear among traditional communities in ethnic minority regions that it would lead to usurpation of customary land use rights and lead to forced evictions. Approximately 241,000 people in Myanmar remain internally displaced23, living in camps in Kachin, Shan, Rakhine, Chin, and Kayin States, with limited access to services. Humanitarian actors have been struggling to access the displaced population due to restrictions placed by the authorities. In addition to 914,99824 Rohingya in Bangladesh as at 30 November 2019, there were 93,33325 refugees from Myanmar in Thailand and an unknown number in China. While repatriation efforts by the Governments of Myanmar and Thailand have been underway, cross-border organizations assisting refugees from Myanmar in Thailand have seen a dramatic reduction in funding in the past years for life-saving and other forms of assistance. Rates of depression and suicide have reportedly increased in camps in Thailand, as well as domestic violence, drug and alcohol dependency.26 18 See A/HRC/42/CRP.3 A/HRC/40/68, para. 7. 20 2014 census, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/documents/Myanmar/MMR2015-05.pdf 21 Signed in 2015 between the Government and 10 out of the 15 invited ethnic armed organisations 22 Transnational Institute, “Access Denied - Land Rights and Ethnic Conflict in Burma”, 2013, p. 3. 23 https://www.unocha.org/myanmar/about-ocha-myanmar (last accessed: 23/01/2020) 24 https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/73363 25 https://www-unhcr.org.th/sites/default/u11/Refugee%20Ppoulation%20Overview_December%2 02019_0.pdf 26 Progressive Voice (2019), “There is no one who does not miss home: a report on protracted displacement due to armed conflict in Burma/Myanmar”, p. 130. 19 6