A/HRC/42/CRP.3 companies. For example, the Mission received information from a credible source that the Myanmar Northern Star Company, which is involved in jade mining in Hpakant, Kachin State, was founded by the Tatmadaw’s Northern Command as a way to supplement Tatmadaw revenues.184 Similar to MEHL and MEC, these other companies provide revenue to support regional Tatmadaw activities and operations, fuel conflict in mining areas and pose a barrier to civilian oversight of the Tatmadaw.185 This is consistent with research that has found that since the early 2000s, higher-level Tatmadaw officials have granted land and resource concessions in Kachin and Shan States as a way to generate personal revenue and develop a political and economic power base.186 1. (a) Tatmadaw involvement in jade mining areas in Kachin State Hpakant Township 86. Jade mining areas and jade export routes from Kachin State to China have become heavily militarized, particularly since the Tatmadaw resumed hostilities against the KIA in June 2011, breaking a 17-year ceasefire. A recent US Institute of Peace report observed, “The jade mines in Hpakant have become a battlefield in two senses of the word: over who has the right to engage in rent-seeking opportunities, and as a war to push out the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) units from jade-producing (and taxing) areas”.187 87. The Mission received accounts that illustrate the human rights consequences of the Tatmadaw’s heavy presence around jade mining areas in Hpakant Township, in addition to turf battles that result in direct hostilities. Victims provided the Mission with consistent accounts of being subjected to arbitrary detention and physical violence at the hands of Tatmadaw soldiers in Hpakant.188 In 2016, for example, a “hand-picker” working at a jade mine in Hpakant said he was detained by Tatmadaw soldiers when passing through a checkpoint. The soldiers searched him, looking for raw jade. When the man told them he had no jade, he was beaten, his feet were cuffed and he was detained in a makeshift tent near a checkpoint for one night. Tatmadaw soldiers identified as being part of Northern Command were present at the checkpoint.189 Another interviewee who worked as a miner for a jade mining company in Hpakant was subjected to similar searches by the Tatmadaw in 2013. 190 The Mission also received allegations that soldiers of the Light Infantry Division (LID) 33 stationed in Hpakant Township in 2013 looted civilian livestock. 191 The Mission identified LID 33 as one of the divisions most responsible for the crimes under international law perpetrated in northern Rakhine State from August to December 2017. 192 88. In addition to the Tatmadaw’s violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law and the risk of hostilities erupting around mining areas, investigative journalists have found that the working conditions at the jade mines in Hpakant Township are highly hazardous.193 According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, more than 400,000 people work in the gemstone mines in 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 Digital record 2005. Digital record 2005; Global Witness, “Jade mining concessions in the Lone Khin area of Hpakant” in “Jade: Myanmar���s Big State Secret,” 23 October 2015, p. 31. Kevin Woods, “The Conflict Resource Economy and Pathways to Peace in Burma,” US Institute of Peace, November 2018. Kevin Woods, “The Conflict Resource Economy and Pathways to Peace in Burma,” US Institute of Peace, November 2018, pg. 15. PI-004. DI-064; Tatmadaw violations against jade “hand-pickers” have also been documented by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, who reported that “In November 2018, three jade pickers were reportedly killed by Tatmadaw soldiers.” See A/HRC/40/68, paragraph 6. QI-083. DI-067; GI-028 corroborates that the LID 33 was stationed in Hpakant, Kachin State, at least until July 2018. A/HRC/39/CRP.2, paragraphs 1544, 1555. Hannah Beech, “Battling for Blood Jade,” TIME Magazine, 9 March 2017 (https://time.com/battlingfor-blood-jade/) 31