The Ash and the Addition: Secondary Displacement in Post-Conflict Myanmar
Published on August 20, 2025
The 2018 plantation disputes in Myanmar triggered waves of secondary displacement among already vulnerable IDP communities.
In the camps scattered across Myanmar's conflict zones, displacement is not a single event but a recurring nightmare. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled violence in 2012 found themselves uprooted once more in 2018 when plantation disputes erupted around their temporary shelters.
For families who had spent years rebuilding fragments of normalcy in displacement camps, this secondary displacement was devastating. Children who had just started attending makeshift schools were pulled from classrooms.
The phenomenon of secondary displacement remains poorly documented and inadequately addressed by humanitarian agencies. HOPE SEA's research team has been working to map these patterns, interviewing affected families to understand the cascading impacts of repeated upheaval.
"Each displacement strips away another layer of resilience," explains lead researcher Dr. Thida Chaiyapa. "The psychological toll of being displaced once is immense. Being displaced again from a place you were already displaced to — that creates a wound that is very difficult to heal."
For families who had spent years rebuilding fragments of normalcy in displacement camps, this secondary displacement was devastating. Children who had just started attending makeshift schools were pulled from classrooms.
The phenomenon of secondary displacement remains poorly documented and inadequately addressed by humanitarian agencies. HOPE SEA's research team has been working to map these patterns, interviewing affected families to understand the cascading impacts of repeated upheaval.
"Each displacement strips away another layer of resilience," explains lead researcher Dr. Thida Chaiyapa. "The psychological toll of being displaced once is immense. Being displaced again from a place you were already displaced to — that creates a wound that is very difficult to heal."