Economic, social and cultural rights
Individual Documents
Description:
"With chubby cheeks and a nervous smile, 18-year-old Kai is preparing to attack his judo coach on stage in front of hundreds of onlookers.
Light beaming from the raised platform illuminates the crowd sitting cross-legged on the grass of the park in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, drawn to the spectacle and the colourful striped flags.
Some of them are familiar with the symbolism of the flags’ rainbow colours. They have been waiting for this, January’s fourth annual Pride festival, in a country where same-sex relations are criminalised and the LGBT community is openly mocked. “Everyone is proud. I am so proud of them,” says Kai, a University of Yangon student who only has one name. Building up the courage to get on stage, he points his little finger – painted pink to symbolise a call for legislative change – to the sky. “Raise your hand and say ‘I am gay,’” he shouts. This is a bold declaration in Myanmar, which is among Asia’s laggards in terms of LGBT rights. In 2018, India abolished a colonial-era law banning homosexuality that had similarities to Myanmar’s current legislation.
In the same year, Hong Kong began to grant visas to international dependents in same-sex partnerships. Taiwan went a step further in 2019 and legalised gay marriage..."
Source/publisher:
"South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-02-13
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"A MAN who is fighting to legalise the use of cannabis in Myanmar was fined recently for wrongful demonstration in Yangon.
Ko Sein Hla Maung was fined 20,000 kyat (RM55) by the court for leading the demonstration in a public park, calling for the legalisation of marijuana according to The Myanmar Times.
After the hearing Ko Sein said he remains undaunted and vows to pursue the movement, called "Marijuana Revolution", that aims for the government to allow the use of cannabis legally.
He said punitive action such as sending people to prison for using marijuana would destroy them.
Legalising the plant however could help boost the economy, provide employment and even help the country strengthen its coffers, he added.
Ko Sein and his fellow advocates who were present at the court hearing said they will be consulting experts and legislators on how to go about their effort to legalise the plant.
Anyone caught having possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana they can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. Possession of over 100 grams could result in life imprisonment..."
Source/publisher:
"New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2019-11-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"On today, the 21 November, the people of Myanmar celebrate their National Day, an annual public holiday for the country, celebrated on the tenth day following the full moon of the month of Tazaungmone, the eighth month of the country’s calendar. The holiday marks the anniversary of the beginning of student-led protests against the British in 1920.
As with most of ASEAN, from the earliest days of colonisation, there was a strong feeling of resentment against the rule of Myanmar’s colonisers. The student protests of 1920 were seen as the start of the resistance movement that ultimately led to independence from Britain in 1948.
In 1920, on the tenth day following the full-moon day of Tazaungmone, students from the Rangoon and Judson Colleges began protests against the British administration’s Rangoon University Act of 1920. The Act raised the status of Rangoon College to that of a university, but the changes in the administration and curriculum were seen to exclude the local population.
The protests ignited a call for nationalism among students, the basis of which formed the key elements of the country’s independence movement.
Today, however, Myanmar’s leadership seem to have forgotten the spirit of the 1920 student protests..."
Source/publisher:
"The ASEAN Post" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2019-11-21
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Opinion and Expression - tools for change in Burma/Myanmar, Economic, social and cultural rights
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar one of more than 40 countries where laws introduced by British entrench discrimination against LGBT people.
Description:
" Khin Maung Htun, a gay man in Myanmar, was standing on the street one night last year scrolling through his phone when police showed up to arrest some men who had been fighting nearby.
The brawl had nothing to do with him; he had not even realised it was going on. But one of the police officers happened to know some acquaintances of his and recognised his face.
"He is gay," the officer told his colleagues as he pointed at Khin Maung Htun, "so arrest him too."
More: Singapore court to hear cases seeking to decriminalise gay sex...
Charges in Mongolia LGBT attack hint at changing attitudes...Gay fathers get less paid parental leave than other couples...
At the police station, he was made to kneel down with the other men as police kicked them. Then he was singled out by an officer who demanded to know why he was gay, before slapping him....."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-11-13
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
''Representing each of Myanmar’s 14 States and Regions, more than 130 civil society members attended the event, which was co-hosted with the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with Dan Church Aid, Norwegian Church Aid, Equality Myanmar and the Local Resource Center.
The ICJ’s Asia Pacific Regional Director, Frederick Rawski, introduced the Forum objectives which were to raise awareness of the rights, obligations and reporting processes associated with Myanmar’s ratification of the ICESCR on 6 October 2017.
As a State Party to the ICESCR, Myanmar is obliged to respect, protect and fulfill a variety of human rights including the rights to: decent work, an adequate standard of living, adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, social security, health, and education...''
Source/publisher:
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Date of publication:
2018-11-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Economic, social and cultural rights, Economy: general, analytical, statistical (various sources), Society and Culture, Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
English
more