Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
Several hundred documents on Burma. "The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) was founded in 1986 by a prominent group of jurists and human rights activists
in Asia. The AHRC is an independent, non-governmental body, which seeks to promote greater awareness and realisation of
human rights in the Asian region, and to mobilise Asian and international public opinion to obtain relief and redress for the
victims of human rights violations. AHRC promotes civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights.
AHRC endeavours to achieve the following objectives stated in the Asian Charter "Many Asian states have guarantees of
human rights in their constitutions, and many of them have ratified international instruments on human rights. However, there
continues to be a wide gap between rights enshrined in these documents and the abject reality that denies people their rights.
Asian states must take urgent action to implement the human rights of their citizens and residents... "
Search for Burma and/or go to Asian Countries/Burma.
Links, Urgent appeals.
Source/publisher:
Asian Human Rights Commission, Asian Legal Resource Centre
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Human rights organisations, networks: resources, training, methodology and other links, Major online locations of books, reports and articles on Burma, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
more
Description:
Several hundred reports and urgent appeals on legal events in Burma/Myanmar, including restrictions on lawyers and unjust conduct of legal proceedings.
Source/publisher:
Asian Human Rights Commission
Date of entry/update:
2012-02-22
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
more
Description:
Link to an OBL sub-section
Source/publisher:
Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update:
2016-05-17
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
more
Individual Documents
Description:
" Myanmar’s military staged a coup Monday and detained senior politicians including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi — a sharp reversal of the significant, if uneven, progress toward democracy the Southeast Asian nation has made following five decades of military rule.
An announcement read on military-owned Myawaddy TV said Commander-in-Chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing would be in charge of the country for one year. It said the seizure was necessary because the government had not acted on the military’s claims of fraud in November’s elections — in which Suu Kyi’s ruling party won a majority of the parliamentary seats up for grabs — and because it allowed the election to go ahead despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The takeover came the morning the country’s new parliamentary session was to begin and follows days of concern that a coup was coming. The military maintains its actions are legally justified — citing a section of the constitution it drafted that allows it to take control in times of national emergency — though Suu Kyi’s party spokesman as well as many international observers have said it amounts to a coup.
It was a dramatic backslide for Myanmar, which was emerging from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962. It was also a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who had lived under house arrest for years as she tried to push her country toward democracy and then became its de facto leader after her National League for Democracy won elections in 2015..."
Source/publisher:
"Associated Press" (USA)
Date of publication:
2021-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2021-02-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political role of the Tatmadaw, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Laws, decrees and regulations relating to the parliamentary process (commentary), The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups
Language:
more
Topic:
Myanmar Police Force, Aung San Suu Kyi, child abuse, Tatmadaw, constitution
Sub-title:
The “Victoria” child rape case has laid bare the institutional failings of the Myanmar Police Force at a time when the government is also asking questions about the force’s conduct.
Topic:
Myanmar Police Force, Aung San Suu Kyi, child abuse, Tatmadaw, constitution
Description:
"Tthere have been demonstrations in Yangon, Mandalay and other cities amid public disgust at a Myanmar Police Force news conference held after charges were dismissed against the defendant in the “Victoria” toddler rape case.
The case concerns the rape of a two-year-old girl at a private nursery school in Nay Pyi Taw last year, who was later dubbed Victoria as part of a social media campaign.
There has been dissatisfaction over the way the police had handled the case since it came to light last May, but this turned to anger when senior officers revealed at the December 19 news conference the name and address of the victim and her parents, in apparent breach of the Child Rights Law.
The news conference came a day after the Dekkhina District Court in Nay Pyi Taw dismissed charges against Ko Aung Kyaw Myo (aka Aung Gyi), a driver employed by the supervisor at the school the girl attended, because of a lack of evidence. There was also public anger that documents relating to the case were posted on the MPF’s “Ye Zarni” Facebook page on the day of the news conference, before being taken down.
The public protests against the MPF came after State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met senior MPF officers in Nay Pyi Taw on December 18 and urged them to be loyal to the government. In a wide-ranging speech, Aung San Suu Kyi also spoke about the deterioration of law and order in Rakhine State, the different roles of the MPF and the Tatmadaw, corruption within the MPF, narcotics trafficking, and the need for the MPF to take steps to build public confidence in its ability to provide security and peace..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-09
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - global and regional, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, The Military's political role
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar is not waging a war on drugs.
Description:
"It is waging a war on the people who consume illicit drugs, and those who sell them in relatively small quantities.
In doing so, it is punishing the victims of state policies that have allowed some organisations, including militias in Shan State that are allied to the Tatmadaw, to produce massive quantities of drugs – notably yaba, crystal meth and opium – within Myanmar’s borders with impunity.
As a recent International Crisis Group report, Fire and Ice: Conflict and Drugs in Myanmar’s Shan State, makes clear, there is little appetite among law enforcement to target those who are making billions of dollars a year from illicit drug production and spreading the drug scourge from Shan State to as far as Japan and Australia.
There are no easy solutions to the drug production problem.
The least the government can do though is to refrain from inflicting further harm on those whose lives have already been affected by drugs. However, Myanmar finds itself in a situation where not only is drug production ballooning, but prisons are overflowing with drug users and low-level dealers; last year, the Attorney General’s office reported to the national legislature that over half of all prisoners had been incarcerated for drug-related offences, resulting in overcrowding, understaffing and a budget blowout for the Department of Corrections. Other government officials have estimated that up to 70 percent of inmates could be in prison for drug offences.
This is the result of adopting a zero-tolerance drug policy in a country where impunity and corruption are rife. It was always doomed to fail..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs and Burma: general links, reports and articles, Burma: drug production and trafficking, Drugs: regional and global, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
more
Topic:
criminal justice, justice, Union Attorney General's Office, constitution, Anti-Corruption Commission
Sub-title:
The “law officers” who prosecute criminal cases in Myanmar should be important players in determining which cases go to trial, but their role – and the informal pressures they face to either drop or proceed with charges – receive little public scrutiny.
Topic:
criminal justice, justice, Union Attorney General's Office, constitution, Anti-Corruption Commission
Description:
"IT IS not widely known that prosecutors in criminal cases, known as “law officers”, are not under the Tatmadaw, who control the police, but answer ultimately to the president. As frontline staff of the Office of the Union Attorney General, they are – on paper, at least – the main players in identifying and recommending cases that are brought before a court. But their role is seldom mentioned in discussions of the criminal justice system and its failings, which the civilian government often claims to have little influence over.
The 2008 Constitution gives the president the power to appoint a cabinet-level attorney general for a five-year term whose role is to provide legal advice, assign duties on legal matters – such as the scrutiny of proposed laws – and report back to the president. Under the attorney general are the deputy attorney general, the regional and state advocates general, and the law officers, who serve at courts.
The advocates general appointed by state and regional chief ministers have similar powers to that of the attorney general. The “gatekeeper” role of the law officer is specified under an order issued by the attorney general in 2016. After conducting their investigation, the police transfer the evidence – primarily the First Information Report and witness statements – to the relevant law office. A law officer reviews the evidence and if they decide the evidence is strong enough to present in court, they transfer it to the relevant court. Alternatively, they can send it back to the police recommending either they investigate further or close the case completely.
In September 2018, the Anti-Corruption Commission brought charges against Yangon Region Advocate General U Han Htoo and five other officials, including a judge, over allegations that they had accepted more than K70 million in cash and kind to withdraw charges against three suspects in the alleged murder of Facebook comedian Aung Yell Htwe. The case continues at the Yangon Region High Court. The charges under the Anti-Corruption Law carry maximum prison sentences of between 10 and 15 years..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-16
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
General articles on activism, Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to the judiciary (commentaries), Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Reform of the 1959 Defence Services Act is a necessary step to address ongoing military impunity. The case of Ko Par Gyi’s killing should be reopened to satisfy the State’s international law obligations and deter repetition of serious crimes by soldiers.
Description:
"Five years after the death of journalist Ko Par Gyi, the ICJ calls on the Government of Myanmar to reform the 1959 Defence Services Act, which was used to shield soldiers from accountability for involvement in his killing.
“The case is emblematic of the 1959 Defence Services Act being used to enable impunity for human rights violations by soldiers throughout Myanmar, by transferring to military courts the authority to investigate and prosecute serious crimes against civilians,” said Frederick Rawski, Asia Pacific Region Director for the ICJ.
“Impunity for Ko Par Gyi’s death is another example of this law being used to shield soldiers from accountability for serious crimes,” added Rawski. “Legislators should reform the 1959 law to enable the public criminal prosecution of soldiers for serious crimes in all circumstances, and take other steps to address the accountability gap.”
After being detained by police in Mon State and transferred into military detention on 30 September 2014, Ko Par Gyi died four days later in the custody of Tatmadaw soldiers. Unceremoniously buried in a shallow grave, Ko Par Gyi’s death was hidden from his family and the public for weeks. Nobody has been held accountable for his death and his family lacks access to redress, including their right to know the truth..."
Source/publisher:
"International Commission of Jurists" (Switzerland)
Date of publication:
2019-10-04
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to the judiciary (commentaries), Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups
Language:
more
Description:
"EBO provides facilitation and technical support to help resolve
conflicts and reconcile differences through dialogue. EBO supports
the Myanmar peace process by acting as a facilitator or advisor in
crisis situations, by communicating with various factions involved in
conflicts or political deadlocks.
EBO aims to develop trust between
stakeholders by helping build relationships that will underpin
channels of communication between different groups. EBO does not
seek to advance any side’s agenda or any particular ideology.
In most situations, EBO uses informal channels to facilitate
communications between groups and builds on the collective
experience of EBO staff and international expert consultants. It also
draws on the experience and knowledge of other peace processes.
EBO helps to prepare stakeholders for effective participation in
negotiations; ensuring that all sides are well informed on the latest
developments and are acquainted with the ins-and-outs of formal
and non-formal processes. EBO also provides support in ensuring
lessons learned and best practices are shared among different
groups in order to maximise the potential for successful negotiations.
For long-term solutions, EBO seeks to initiate and support
sustainable, long-term resolutions to conflicts by promoting the
participation of all key stakeholders in dialogue processes. EBO
aims to achieve lasting settlements to violent and complex conflicts
in Myanmar, both military and political. By doing so, EBO aims not
only to end the suffering directly caused by conflicts, but also to
address the problems of poverty, human rights infringements, lack
of proper education, under-developed economy, and other issues
that are the inevitable by-products of violence and political unrest.
EBO facilitates dialogue with, and in-between: Ethnic Armed Organizations, Tatmadaw (Government Army), Ethnic Political Parties, Government
In 2015, EBO facilitation work mainly focused on:
The Deed of Commitment (DoC)
The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)
The Union-level Political Dialogue process
State-based Political Dialogue processes
Maintaining the Bilateral Ceasefire Agreements and keeping the
peace by supporting Liaison Offices and building their capacity.
Much of this work was supported by the Finnish Evangelical
Lutheran Mission (FELM) as well as the Common Space Initiative
(CSI). The EBO-FELM-CSI consortium manages the funds for the
peace process provided by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The objective of this partnership is to facilitate the peace process
by supporting and strengthening it as well as the emerging political
dialogue through technical support and confidence building between
the dialogue partners..."
Source/publisher:
Euro Burma Office (EBO)
Date of publication:
2015-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Armed conflict and peace-building in Burma - theoretical, strategic and general, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.26 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Regular readers of the Tea Circle are likely well-aware that more than 23,000 prisoners were recently released on amnesties granted in connection with the celebration of Myanmar New Year in April. In this brief piece we raise some critical questions about the presidential power to pardon.
In Myanmar, New Year amnesties are a common practice and the releases are an annual feature of news reporting. This year the amnesties were accompanied by violence. The amnesties took place in three rounds on April 17th, 26th and May 7th. As the media presented joyful accounts of reunions with family members and expressions of relief at the prospect of freedom, unrest developed in the prisons. The unrest escalated into riots in seven prisons across the country on May 8th. On May 9th, the riot in Shwe Bo Prison came to a fatal conclusion after officials went in with tear gas and guns, killing four prisoners and wounding two.
A video streamed live on Facebook via an illegal mobile phone from Shwe Bo Prison on May 8th caught our attention. It features prisoners wandering around outside their cells cheering and shouting: “We should be released like Moe Aung Yin – our cause, our cause”. In the slogan, their call for clemency was accompanied by the slogan associated with the pro-democracy movement that fought the former military regime and whose representatives from the NLD (National League for Democracy) now govern the country.
Statements from the President’s office declared that the amnesties were given on humanitarian grounds with priority given to women and juveniles as well as elderly, sick, and disabled prisoners. The prisoners were protesting that the amnesties were not given on a systematic basis. They called for a fair and transparent amnesty practice; they called for rule of law. From their perspective, the selection and release of people such as Moe Aung Yin, a well-known Myanmar actor, and the Reuters journalists seemed arbitrary or at least not to fit the humanitarian criteria laid out. This situation is doubly ironic. Prisoners — those deemed criminal law breakers by the state — call for rule of law and stand up against the arbitrary expression of power and they do so echoing the protest slogans (“Our cause, our cause!”) previously used by the opposition movement as they stood up against the military regime.
After the riots, opposition parties raised a critique similar to the grievances expressed by the prisoners in a joint press conference by the National Unity Party, the National Political Alliance League and the USDP (Union Solidarity and Development Party) on June 5th. While echoing the prisoners’ critique of the arbitrariness of the amnesties, the opposition parties claimed that the lack of thorough investigation of which prisoners to release would lead to dangerous criminals bring released. As a reply, a spokesperson from the President’s Office informed them that the amnesty was aimed at minor drug cases and considered appeals submitted to the President and the State Counselor. While this explains how famous cases of actors and journalists got included in what was presented as an amnesty on humanitarian grounds, it confirms the lack of transparency that makes the selection of prisoners included in the amnesties appear arbitrary.
Our research in Myanmar is about legacies of detention. We are especially interested in the way prison is experienced and the politics of imprisonment. The amnesties and the prisoners’ response to them speak to these themes in interesting ways. Our research so far has made us aware that prisoners serving long sentences in Myanmar historically came to look to amnesties as a potential route to release. Over the years, many prisoners have been released via the presidential pardon rather than on their court-mandated release date. But amnesties create uncertainty. They are at the discretion of the President’s Office and the prisoner never knows whether he or she will be on the list. So, while the joyous reunions at the prison gate may make amnesties appear as overwhelmingly positive, they are more ambivalent in their broader effects when seen from the perspective of prisoners either anticipating amnesty or left behind.
We can also raise critical questions about the power to pardon and the practice of amnesties from the perspective of rule of law. In effect, amnesties are at odds with the logic meant to govern release of prisoners in a criminal justice system based on rule of law: they are arbitrary rather than systematic, discretionary rather than mandatory. Amnesties can be seen as a demonstration of executive power trumping judicial power and may have an undermining effect on the long-term efforts to transform the judicial system and bring it into line with international norms and standards for justice delivery. This is ironic given the emphasis the current administration has otherwise given to the rule of law.
Presidential pardons of this kind are perfectly legal, and relatively commonplace across the world; they serve as a gesture that emphasises executive power and reminds the judiciary that in certain situations it is subject to, rather than independent of, the executive. Complicating the situation in Myanmar is the uneasy balance of power between the NLD and the military that has the military controlling important government ministries, including those responsible for justice and prisons. It may even be the case that some aspects of the recent amnesties (for example the release of the Reuters journalists) can be seen as a kind of victory for the NLD as they were able to legitimately usurp authority from the military-controlled ministry formally responsible for the administration of sentencing and release.
Critical questions can also be raised about whether amnesties are a good solution to overcrowding, a common criticism of Myanmar’s prisons. While amnesties of this size do contribute to decreasing the population of Myanmar’s overcrowded prisons, they do not solve the systemic issue of over-population. Relatively large numbers of prisoners have been granted amnesties for years, but the population keeps increasing. Alternative strategies for decarceration are needed. One promising initiative in this direction is the decriminalization of drug use through ongoing reform of drug laws. In this vein, most of the amnesties have been granted to prisoners with drug-related cases— a fact which also reflects that the majority of prisoners in Myanmar are imprisoned on such cases.
From a human rights perspective, one can ask whether pardoning is a practice that should be encouraged or frowned upon. On the one hand, the small contribution towards decarceration might ease the pains of imprisonment for those released as well as those left behind. On the other hand, it undermines the justice system’s internal logic and adds to the uncertainty felt by prisoners. We might also ask whether, if someone can be released on humanitarian grounds in celebration of a holiday, there are really grounds for keeping him or her confined in the first place. In our view, rather than relying on amnesties, Myanmar politicians should look to ways of reducing the use of imprisonment through diversion, fair and proportionate sentencing practices, the decriminalisation of petty offences, and the use of alternatives to imprisonment.
Liv S. Gaborit is a PhD fellow at Roskilde University and DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture, currently she is a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University. Her research focuses on experiences of imprisonment in Myanmar.
Andrew M. Jefferson is a prison scholar based at DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture. He specialises in ethnographic studies of prisons and prison reform processes in the global south focused especially on issues related to survival, governance and transition
Liv Gaborit, Andrew Jefferson
Source/publisher:
TEACIRCLEOXFORD
Date of publication:
2019-06-17
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
more
Description:
''This manual outlines proposals for the insertion of housing, land and property restitution rights simultaneously within the context of the ongoing peace process and within broader national legal reform eforts, including work towards a national land law. The paper begins by emphasising that many countries emerging from both conflict and political reform processes have successfully implemented restitution programmes, and that the current, largely piecemeal, eforts towards restitution in Myanmar under the Central Land Grab Reinvestigation Committee processes are simply inadequate in securing restitution rights for everyone in and from Myanmar with a legitimate restitution claim.
The manual proposes that a comprehensive agreement be reached between all relevant stakeholders to establish restitution rights under Myanmar law, and that an independent Myanmar National Restitution Commission be created to receive and decide upon all outstanding restitution claims concerning housing, land and property anywhere within the country.
The various sections of the manual provide detailed analysis of the types of provisions that would need to be included within such agreements, and suggest precise legal language as to how these provisions could be formulated within an eventual comprehensive agreement.
The manual takes the view that the people of Myanmar will be best served if courageous decisions by all involved in the peace and legislative processes lead to the development of a comprehensive restitution process and procedure whereby all outstanding restitution claims can finally be addressed, adjudicated and enforced. Only through such a process can enough justice and clarity be provided within the housing, land and property sectors for the foundations of democracy, economic prosperity and growing security and stability be reached...''
Source/publisher:
reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-02-24
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.12 MB
more
Description:
''Two years since Myanmar’s most prominent constitutional and human rights lawyer Ko Ni was assassinated in broad daylight and still there is no justice in sight.
The lack of closure is all the more telling considering Ko Ni had high-level ties to the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party and was working from behind the scenes to amend a constitution that gives disproportionate political and administrative powers to the military. Ko Ni was shot and killed on January 29, 2017 while leaving a terminal building at Yangon’s international airport upon his return from a trip overseas. Kyi Lin, the gunman, was captured at the scene after a struggle in which he also shot and killed a taxi driver, Nay Win, who heroically ran after the assailant.
Ko Ni’s burial in accordance with Muslim rituals, was carried out within 24 hours of his death. At his funeral, the road to the Muslim cemetery in Yangon’s North Okkalapa suburb was lined with cars, minivans and buses as thousands of people came to pay their last respects....''
Source/publisher:
Asia Times
Date of publication:
2019-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Popular participation rights: reports of violations in Burma, National and State constitutions, draft constitutions and amendments (commentary), Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, The Military's political role
Language:
English
more
Description:
''“This brazen killing of a prominent democracy advocate demands a rigorous State response to show this type of crime will be fully punished,” said Frederick Rawski, the ICJ’s Director for Asia and the Pacific.
Despite an official investigation and reports of more than 100 court hearings, nobody has been held accountable for U Ko Ni’s death – criminally or otherwise – and the circumstances have not yet been satisfactorily explained.
“Myanmar simply cannot satisfy its international law obligations without conducting an impartial and independent investigation that is free of military influence. Such an investigation is a pre-requisite for conducting an effective prosecution in a fair trial setting,” added Rawski.
U Ko Ni was well known as a vocal advocate for human rights and democratic reform in Myanmar. As an adviser to the National Legal of Democracy party, he was involved in creating the position of State Counselor, which formalized a leadership role for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, despite a constitutional provision barring her from the Presidency...''
Source/publisher:
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Date of publication:
2019-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National and State constitutions, draft constitutions and amendments (commentary), Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, The Military's political role, Popular participation rights: reports of violations in Burma
Language:
English
more
Description:
"In March 2018, a new museum opened in Rangoon. It does not boast any artworks or ancient artefacts, but hundreds of pictures documenting the extent of state violence committed against Burmese citizens since the military seized power half a century ago. Grainy black and white shots depict officers beating up students protesting against Ne Win?s coup in 1962, before moving to the savage repression of democracy activists in 1988 and the torture of those who defended the electoral victory of the National League for Democracy in 1990. By the time we reach the 2007 Saffron Revolution, the Burmese state?s brutality is displayed in technicolour..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-05-23
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
more
Description:
Myanmar has had a busy and controversial year on the legal and "constitutional fronts. There have been important victories, moments where the status quo has prevailed, and significant setbacks which have made clear that authoritarianism is not a thing of the past. In this contribution, I canvass two distinct areas: (1) important legislation adopted at the national level; and (2) constitutional transformation and usage. The goal is to provide an account of what Myanmar has experienced in order to encourage a wider conversation about these developments. The transition to democracy is not an easy one. It takes time and effort to build a climate conducive to democratic accountability, federalism, the rule of law, and human rights. The solution is not to abandon the fight, but to commit to moving the dial every single day..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
more
Description:
"(Bangkok, 21 March 2018) The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and its member, Equality Myanmar are gravely concerned by the approval of the proposed amendments to the 2011 Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law by the House of Nationalities (Upper House) on 7 March 2018.[1] The amended bill has been sent to the House of Representatives (Lower House) where it is expected to be discussed this week. These new amendments are highly restrictive of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, freedom of expression, and democracy in Myanmar.
The amendments, which were originally submitted on 19 February 2018 by the Upper House Bill Committee, present several contentious changes to the law, which further restrict freedoms and liberties which they are supposed to protect and promote. According to the amended Article 4[2], a notification letter has to be submitted to the authority at least 48 hours in advance for any public assembly, and that such an assembly may not conflict with laws protecting national security, rule of law, public order, or public moral. This vague provision provides room for the authorities to simply reject a request based on ambiguous grounds, even if the assembly is deemed a peaceful gathering according to international standards.[3] A proportionality assessment must be done to ensure that restrictions imposed on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly are proportionate to the legitimate objectives of the law..."
Source/publisher:
ASIAN FORUM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT AND EQUALITY
Date of publication:
2018-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
138.72 KB
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Description:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:"The right to a public hearing serves the interests of a defendant or the parties to a proceeding by promoting accountability and scrutiny of all actors involved in court processes. The right also serves the interests of the public at large, encouraging public understanding of the judicial system and helping to establish its legitimacy.The right to a public hearing is not absolute. International rights instruments recognise that, in some contexts, the right may be outweighed by the right to privacy or other concerns. While Myanmar law provides for the right to a public hearing, observations conducted by Justice Base reveal there are, in practice, substantial barriers to public access to both court premises and individual courtrooms in Yangon. Justice Base?s four observers spent one month observing 205 criminal and civil hearings in 119 courtrooms across 36 of Yangon?s 50 courts. During this time: ....."
Source/publisher:
Justice Base
Date of publication:
2017-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2017-12-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
Burmese
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.61 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:"This qualitative study was conducted in four geographic target areas that included urban and semi-rural areas of Chin State, Mon State, Kachin State and the city of Yangon. Local research teams used focus group discussions, key informant
interviews and participatory mapping activities to collect information from over 400 community members, legal practitioners, local administrators and other key
stakeholders. Consultations and data validation sessions were iteratively held with partner organisations to further ensure that women and peer groups could articulate their positions and preferred strategies for improving their access to
justice. The project did not focus on specified thematic issues (for example, land rights or domestic violence), but rather provided a broad space for women and men from
target communities to self-identify what they saw as women?s most pressing legal concerns. Research participants identified domestic violence, sexual assault
and traditional inheritance practices as the most prevalent injustices women faced. Women also described these issues as the least likely to be submitted for adjudication by formal or informal legal mechanisms. The avoidance of justice
systems in response to these events was explained in part by several women and men respondents who defined family matters ? those between a husband and wife or parents and children ? as situated outside the jurisdiction of law...."
Source/publisher:
Justice Base
Date of publication:
2016-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2017-12-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.48 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:"The right to a public hearing serves the interests of a defendant or the parties to a proceeding by promoting accountability and scrutiny of all actors involved in court processes. The right also serves the interests of the public at large, encouraging public understanding of the judicial system and helping to establish its legitimacy.The right
to a public hearing is not absolute. International rights instruments recognise that, in some contexts, the right may be outweighed by the right to privacy or other concerns.
While Myanmar law provides for the right to a public hearing, observations conducted by Justice Base reveal there are, in practice, substantial barriers to public access to both court premises and individual courtrooms in Yangon. Justice Base?s four observers spent one month observing 205 criminal and civil hearings in 119 courtrooms
across 36 of Yangon?s 50 courts. During this time: ....."
Source/publisher:
Justice Base
Date of publication:
2017-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2017-12-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
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CONCLUSION (part): "...The five fair trial rights addressed in this report — the right to a defence, the right to adequate time and fa cilities to prepare a defence, the right to a hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, the right to be tried without undue delay and the right to a public hearing — are not the only areas of concern in Yangon Region?s Township and District Courts. Nonetheless, the data relat ed to each of these rights reveal significant failures in the administration of justice in criminal cases. Defence lawyers commonly began representation subsequent to the inquiry phase, after crucial proceedings in court ha d already occurred. Even when a defendant was able to retain a lawyer, numerous systemic barriers interfered with an effective defence, including lack of professional capacity. Many defence lawyers remain hesitant to challenge judges out of fear of repercussions. The conduct of judges did not always conform to fair trial standards as evidenced by leaving in the middle of hearings, answering phone calls during hearings or otherwise appearing inattentive. In addition, judges granted adjournments in m ore than half of all scheduled hearings , largely for avoidable reasons. Unofficial fees , in addition to the lack of public access to courts , compounds these problems. Allegations of unofficial payments were reported during every stage of the formal judicia l process including obtaining release on bail, accessing documents, seeking adjournments, receiving reduced sentences and securing certified records necessary to file an appeal. Adhering to the highest standards of professional behavio u r would go a long way toward improving the rule of law and the public?s trust in the judiciary. Township Courts are the first, and usually only, contact that defendants and their family, friends, and other participants (such as testifying witnesses) have w ith the formal court system. If defendants and others perceive the court system as biased , they will be less likely to comply with fair trial standards themselves, further undermining the judiciary. Publicity through the presence of media and, in particula r, the presence of trained observers knowledgeable in applicable fair trial rights, can serve as an essential public confidence - building measure. 138 To address the concerns discussed above, Justice Base calls on the Myanmar Government, including the Office of the Supreme Court of the Union, the Union Attorney General? s Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs to implement a comprehensive reform program that includes the following actions and initiatives:..."
Source/publisher:
Justice Base
Date of publication:
2017-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2017-12-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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pdf
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1.38 MB
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CONCLUSION (part):
"...The five fair trial rights addressed in this report
—
the right to a defence, the
right to adequate time and fa
cilities to prepare a defence, the right to a hearing
by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, the right to be tried without
undue delay and the right to a public hearing
—
are not the only areas of
concern in Yangon Region?s Township and District
Courts. Nonetheless, the
data relat
ed
to each of these rights reveal
significant
failures in the
administration of justice in criminal cases.
Defence lawyers commonly began representation subsequent to the
inquiry
phase, after crucial proceedings in
court ha
d
already occurred. Even when a
defendant was able to retain a lawyer, numerous systemic barriers interfered
with an effective defence, including lack of professional capacity. Many
defence lawyers remain hesitant to challenge judges out of fear of
repercussions.
The conduct of judges did not always conform to
fair trial standards as
evidenced
by leaving in the middle of hearings, answering phone calls during
hearings or otherwise appearing inattentive. In addition, judges granted
adjournments in m
ore than half of all scheduled hearings
, largely
for avoidable
reasons.
Unofficial fees
,
in addition to
the lack of public access to courts
,
compounds
these problems.
Allegations of
unofficial
payments
were reported during every
stage of the formal judicia
l process including obtaining release on bail,
accessing documents, seeking adjournments, receiving reduced sentences and
securing certified
records
necessary to file an appeal.
Adhering to the highest standards of professional behavio
u
r would go a long
way toward improving the rule of law and the public?s trust in the judiciary.
Township Courts are the first, and usually only, contact that defendants and
their family, friends, and other participants (such as testifying witnesses) have
w
ith the formal court system. If defendants and others perceive the court
system as biased
,
they will be less likely to comply with fair trial standards
themselves, further undermining the judiciary.
Publicity through the presence of media and, in particula
r, the presence of
trained observers knowledgeable in applicable fair trial rights, can serve as an
essential public confidence
-
building measure.
138
To address the concerns discussed above, Justice Base
calls on the Myanmar
Government, including the Office of the Supreme Court of the Union, the
Union
Attorney General?
s Office and
the Ministry of Home Affairs to
implement
a comprehensive reform program that includes the following actions
and initiatives:..."
Source/publisher:
Justice Base
Date of publication:
2017-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2017-12-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English, Burmese
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pdf
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317.12 KB
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
"Myanmar?s transition from the military junta to democracy that started in 2011 gained ground when
the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi took office in April 2016.
However, the military elite still maintains extensive economic and political power. The military
presides over the ministries of Home Affairs, Border Affairs, and Defense, and holds effective veto
power over constitutional changes.
The legal and economic reforms that accompanied the transition have not yet addressed holdover
problems from the military rule. The rule of law, including the administration of justice and law
enforcement, remains weak. Corruption is endemic. Discrimination and abuses against women and
ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities continue. Human rights abuses linked to business activities
are routine. Meanwhile, the government is actively pursuing new economic opportunities and
foreign investment, which has hit record high in recent years. It is thus urgent to close gaps in laws,
policies, and practices so that businesses operating and investing in Myanmar do not further
threaten human rights.
ALTSEAN-Burma and ICAR have partnered to support the development of a National Action Plan
(NAP) on business and human rights in Myanmar by producing a ?Shadow” National Baseline
Assessment (NBA) to assess legal and policy gaps, and identify where further efforts are required.
This NBA is developed based on the guidance under ?National Action Plans on Business and Human
Rights: A Toolkit for the Development, Implementation, and Review of State Commitments to
Business and Human Rights Frameworks” (Toolkit), which was developed by ICAR and the Danish
Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) in June 2014.2 In accordance to the Toolkit, the NBA analyzes the
States? implementation of Pillars I and III of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and
Human Rights (UNGPs), and focuses specifically on those Guiding Principles which represent
obligations of the State.
The NBA is primarily based on desk research. The project team also conducted a number of
consultations with select experts and hosted one workshop with representatives from grassroots
organizations to ascertain preliminary findings, complete data gaps, and update the NBA in view of
ongoing legislative and policy changes. The following presents a list of findings and
recommendations to address critical issues and challenges..."
Marie Krizel Malabanan, Tessa Cerisier, Debbie Stothard, Sophia Lin
Source/publisher:
ALTSEAN-Burma (Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma), ICAR (International Corporate Accountability Roundtable)
Date of publication:
2017-12-08
Date of entry/update:
2017-12-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ALTSEAN-Burma archive, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Rule of Law, Business and Human Rights (Burma/Myanmar-related)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
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1.79 MB
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နိဒါန်းနှင့် အနှစ်ချုပ်
အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာဥပဒေမှ လူသားတစ်ဦးချင်း၏ အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သည့် လွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို တရား လက်လွတ်ဆုံးရှုံးခံရမှုအပေါ် လျင်မြန်သော တရားရေးကျင့်ထုံးဥပဒေ ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးခြင်း အခွင့်အရေးအတွက် အာမခံပေးထားရာ ၎င်းတွင် အမှီအခိုကင်း၍ ဘက်မလိုက်သည့်တရားရုံးမှ ၎င်းတို့အား ဥပဒေအရ ထိန်းသိမ်းခံထား ရမှုအပေါ် သုံးသပ်ပြီး မှားယွင်းစွာထိန်းသိမ်းခံရသူများအား လွှတ်ပေးရန် အမိန့်ပေးပိုင်ခွင့်ရှိသည်။1 အဆိုပါ လုပ်ထုံး လုပ်နည်းသည် အင်္ဂလိပ်ရိုးရာဥပဒေ (common law) ကို အခြေခံထားသော ဥပဒေစနစ်များပါ လျှောက်ထားလွှာ ဖြစ်သည့် တရားရုံးရှေ့တော်သွင်း စာချွန်တော်အမိန့်ကို ယေဘုယျအားဖြင့် ရည်ညွှန်းပါသည်။2 ယင်းအခွင့်အရေး သည် ဖမ်းဆီးခြင်း သို့မဟုတ် ထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်းခံရမှုမှ လွတ်မြောက်ခွင့်ကို တရားလက်လွတ်ဆုံးရှုံးခြင်း ကြုံတွေ့သည့် မည်သူမဆို တရားရုံးတွင် အမှုခင်းဆိုင်ရာဆောင်ရွက်ချက်ရပိုင်ခွင့်ရှိသည်။ သို့မှသာ တရားရုံးမှ နှောင့်နှေးမှုမရှိဘဲ ထိန်းသိမ်းမှုသည် ဥပဒေနှင့်အညီ ဖြစ်၊ မဖြစ်ကို ဆုံးဖြတ်ပေးပြီး၊ အကယ်၍ တရားဥပဒေနှင့် အညီမဖြစ်ပါက ပြန်လည်လွှတ်ပေးရန် အမိန့်ထုတ်ဆင့်ခြင်းပြုရမည်။3
တရားရုံးတွင် ထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်းဆိုင်ရာ တရားဝင်မှု ရှိ၊ မရှိ (lawfulness)ကို စိန်ခေါ်နိုင်ခွင့်သည် မိမိကိုယ် ကိုရပ်တည်နိုင်သည့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးတစ်ရပ်ဖြစ်ပြီး ၎င်းအား ငြင်းကွယ်ခြင်းသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှု တစ်ရပ်ပင် ဖြစ်သည်။4 တရားရုံးရှေ့တော်သွင်းစာချွန်တော်အမိန့်သည် ပုဂ္ဂလိကဆိုင်ရာ လွတ်လပ်မှု သို့မဟုတ် ရုပ်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာကို တရားစီရင်ရေးအမိန့်ဒီဂရီအားဖြင့် ကာကွယ်မှုပေးရာ ၎င်းတွင် ထိန်းသိမ်းခံရသူအား တရားသူကြီးမျက်မှောက်သို့ ခေါ်ဆောင်ရန် အမိန့်ထုတ်ဆင့်ပြီး ထိန်းသိမ်းခံရသူသည် ဥပဒေနှင့်အညီ ထိန်းသိမ်း ခြင်းဖြစ်သည်ကို ဆုံးဖြတ်နိုင်ခြင်း၊ သင့်တင့်လျောက်ပတ်ပါက ထိန်းသိမ်းခံရသူကို ပြန်လည်လွှတ်ပေးနိုင်ရန် အမိန့် ထုတ်ဆင့်နိုင်ခြင်းတို့ကို ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်ပါသည်။5
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ စစ်တပ်အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးလက်အောက်တွင် ဥပဒေအရသော်လည်းကောင်း သို့တည်းမဟုတ် လက် တွေ့ဆောင်ရွက်မှုအားဖြင့်သော်လည်းကောင်း ဥပဒေနှင့်အညီဖမ်းဆီးခြင်းနှင့် ထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်းအား သုံးသပ်သည့် တရားစီရင်ရေးအတွက် ထိရောက်သောယန္တရား မရှိခဲ့ပေ။6 မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ၂၀၀၈ ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေရှိ ကြီးမား သော (မမျှော်လင့်ထားသော) တိုးတက်မှုတစ်ရပ်မှာ တရားရုံးရှေ့တော်သွင်း စာချွန်တော်အမိန့်ဆိုင်ရာ စာချွန် တော်အမိန့်ကို ပြန်လည်မိတ်ဆက်ထည့်သွင်းပေးခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။7 ထိုအချိန်မှစ၍ အစိုးရက ?၂၀၁၄ ခုနှစ် စာချွန်တော် အမိန့် လျှောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာဥပဒေ” ကိုပြဋ္ဌန်းခဲ့ပြီး ပြည်ထောင်စုတရားလွှတ်တော်ချုပ်မှ အဆိုပါဥပဒေကို အကောင် အထည်ဖော်ဆောင်ရွက်မှုအတွက် နည်းဥပဒေသများနှင့် လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်းများကို ပြဋ္ဌာန်းပေးထားပါသည်။8တရားစီရင်ရေးဆိုင်ရာ ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲရေးနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကာကွယ်မှု အားကောင်းလာစေရေး လုပ် ငန်းစဉ်ကို ကူညီတွန်းအားပေးရန်အတွက် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ဥပဒေပညာရှင်များကော်မရှင် (ICJ) အနေဖြင့် နိုင်ငံ တကာဥပဒေနှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏လက်ရှိ ပြည်တွင်းဥပဒေတို့အရ တရားရုံးရှေ့တော်သွင်း စာချွန်တော်အမိန့်နှင့် စပ်ဆက်မှုရှိသည့် ဥပဒေဆိုင်ရာ ဤဆွေးနွေးမှုစာတမ်းကို ရေးသားထားပါသည်။ အောက်ပါအချက်များသည့် အထူးအရေးပါသော အချက်များဖြစ်သည်။
• တရားလက်လွတ် သို့မဟုတ် တရားမဝင် ဖမ်းဆီးခြင်း (သို့မဟုတ်) ထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်းကို စိန်ခေါ်မှုပြုရန်အတွက် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာစံနှုန်း?
Source/publisher:
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Date of publication:
2016-05-00
Date of entry/update:
2016-06-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Detentions, Trials, Independence of the Judiciary: standards and mechanisms, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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pdf
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1.41 MB
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"...International law guarantees the right of all individuals deprived of their liberty to an expeditious judicial procedure in which an independent and impartial court reviews the legality of their detention and orders the release of individuals wrongfully detained.1 This right is commonly referred to as ?habeas corpus? in legal systems that are based on common law. The right entitles anyone who is deprived of liberty by arrest or detention to take proceedings before a court, in order that the court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of the detention and order release if the detention is not lawful.
The right to challenge the lawfulness of detention before a court is a self-standing human right, the denial of which constitutes a human rights violation. Habeas corpus protects personal liberty or physical integrity by means of a judicial decree ordering the appropriate authorities to bring the detained person before a judge so that the lawfulness of the detention may be determined and, if appropriate, the release of the detainee ordered.
In Myanmar under military rule from 1962 until 2008, there was no effective mechanism to challenge the lawfulness of detention before a court. One of the major (and unanticipated) improvements in Myanmar?s 2008 Constitution was the reintroduction of the writ of habeas corpus. Since then, the government has passed an ?Application of Writs Act 2014” and the Supreme Court has promulgated rules and procedures for its implementation.
In order to assist and propel the process of judicial reform and strengthen the protection of human rights, the International Commission of Jurists provides this discussion of the law relevant to the writ of habeas corpus under international law as well as Myanmar?s current national law. The following are of particular significance:
• Analysis of international standards for challenging arbitrary or unlawful arrest or detention (including that which results in torture and ill-treatment of detainees)...
• Analysis of Myanmar?s current legal framework for the Constitutional writ of habeas corpus...
• Analysis of the seemingly forgotten and underutilized procedure for challenging arbitrary arrest and detention (similar to the writ of habeas corpus) under Section 491 of the 1898 Code of Criminal Procedure...
• Analysis of the few publicly available recent petitions for the writ of habeas corpus...
• Analysis of relevant existing precedents (pre-1962) from the Myanmar judiciary?s case law on habeas corpus....."
Source/publisher:
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Date of publication:
2016-05-00
Date of entry/update:
2016-06-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Detentions, Trials, Independence of the Judiciary: standards and mechanisms, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports
Language:
English
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pdf
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672.25 KB
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N.B. this article is from 2012....."...NOTES:
[1] RULE OF LAW PRINCIPLES (twelve)
1. There must be laws prohibiting and protecting against private violence and coercion, general lawlessness and anarchy.
2. The government must be bound (as far as possible) by the same laws that bind individuals.
3. The law must possess characteristics of certainty, generality and equality. Certainty requires that the law be prospective, open, clear and relatively stable. Laws must be of general application to all subjects. The must apply equally to all.
4. The law must be and remain reasonably in accordance with informed public opinion and general social values and there must be some mechanism (formal and informal) for ensuring that.
5. There must be institutions and procedures that are capable of expeditiously enforcing the law.
6. There must be effective procedures and institutions to ensure that government action is also in accordance with the law.
7. There must be an independent judiciary, so that it may be relied upon to apply the law.
8. A system of legal representation is required, preferably by an organized and independent legal profession.
9. The principles of ?natural justice” (or procedural fairness) must be observed in all hearings.
10. The courts must be accessible, without long delays and high costs
11. Enforcement of the law must be impartial and honest.
12. There must be an enlightened public opinion— a public spirit or attitude favoring the application of these propositions. (This proposition has echoes of point number four in it. In addition, it is a requirement that the community be kept informed of the state of the law, social changes and trends requiring amendments to the law (or to the way in which it is enforced), and the need to proceed in a principled way at all times in the general public interest. The media inevitably play a large part in the fulfillment of this requirement ? so freedom of the press, of information and of communications is vital.) [See the Southern Law Review Special Issue Restoring the Rule of Law in Volume 4 December 2000 Lismore NSW]..."
Janelle Saffin
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2012-07-18
Date of entry/update:
2016-04-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Burma/Myanmar laws which have been used in political cases and are in need of amendment (commentary)
Language:
English
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Description:
"...Therefore, the Asian Human Rights Commission urges that the Government of Myanmar have the criminal case against the soldiers responsible for killing Ko Par Gyi reopened. Specifically, personnel of the Myanmar Police Force?s Criminal Investigation Department should be assigned to conduct a full inquiry and lodge charges in a civilian court against those persons found responsible for the killing.
Recognizing that the case of Ko Par Gyi has the potential to serve both as a legal precedent and as a major political achievement in bringing to an end the decades of impunity that soldiers in Burma at all levels have enjoyed for violence committed on civilians, the new government must devote all available resources, be they material, financial or moral, to its success. Let it never again be said in Burma that to bring a case against a soldier in a criminal court is ?erroneous”."
Source/publisher:
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
Date of publication:
2016-04-10
Date of entry/update:
2016-04-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
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Description:
Out of date.....
"The military junta is opposed by dozens of armed ethnic guerrilla groups. There are several dozen non-state armed groups in Burma, and each year sees the creation of one or two more. This is a non-exhaustive list of non-state armed groups currently operating in Burma. Some have signed ceasefire agreements, but have since then taken up arms again, following the 2004 government order to hand over their weapons."
Source/publisher:
Rule of Law in Armed Conflict (RULAC )
Date of publication:
2007-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
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Description:
Abstract:
"Burmese colonial history suggests that a legal system cannot operate independently from the
felt needs of the people who are supposed to obey the law. Despite a monopoly of force
for many decades, the British failed to create a sustainable legal system in Burma. Colonial
status shifted Burma?s economic role from subsistence agriculture to the generation of
large-scale exports. By undermining the traditional Burmese legal system and substituting
Western international standards of property rights, enforceability of contracts, and an independent judiciary
—
all attributes of what some consider to be the
?Rule of Law”—
the legal
system amplified and channelled destructive economic and social forces rather than containing
them. This paper examines traditional Burmese law, the administration of law in British
Burma, and the consequences of the new legal system for the country and its own stability.
The paper concludes by suggesting lessons for Myanmar today, and for the study of the
?Rule of Law." .....
Keywords: Rule of Law,
colonial law, law and custom, law and development, colonial
administration, Burma, Myanmar
Thomas H. Stanton
Source/publisher:
Asian Journal of Law and Society / FirstView Article / January 2014, pp 1 - 1
Date of publication:
2014-01-00
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Legal history and philosophy of Burma (texts and commentary), Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, British colonial period : Commentary (non-official books, academic papers, articles and reports), Legal Pluralism - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
251.98 KB
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Description:
"...While all-out street brawls might not be an everyday occurrence in Hlaing Tharyar, the township is awash with crime ? everything from fistfights, robberies, rapes and extortion to assaults and home detentions by lenders against debtors.
A senior police officer from the Hlaing Tharyar Myoma Police Station said some of these cases are brought to the attention of police, but many others are ?solved” by calling in local toughs who rely on intimidation.
Among the obstacles to maintaining rule of law in the township are the huge growth in population, and an insufficient police force. Last year?s census identified 684,700 residents, about half of whom are squatting illegally on land they do not own or rent. Many of these squatters are thought to have migrated to the area in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008..."
Khin Wine Phyu Phyu
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times"
Date of publication:
2015-08-28
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
"...in Myanmar, while law has at times been used to manage and avoid conflict, it can also exacerbate it.
This is evident when looking at three areas of legal reform between 2010 and 2015: structural, economic and social reforms.
Structural reforms established the country?s new constitutional and legal system. Many of these laws were intended to avoid conflict between institutions, primarily by giving the President and the executive significant control, including over the courts.
And while many offices and institutions may sound new, they are rather old institutions or positions that have been rebranded, such as references to the former chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) being replaced with the President.
Further, the new laws passed since 2010 continue to subordinate the courts to executive and parliamentary control. In fact, the courts are the branch of the government that has been least affected by the transition process.
Meanwhile, Myanmar?s economic reforms have been geared towards greater foreign investment and the market economy, including the banking sector, the establishment of special economic zones, and potential reform of the Company Law.
These economic reforms generally prevent individuals from challenging government decisions in court, and have also generated conflict between local stakeholders and foreign investors. One of the first and most significant laws passed in terms of economic reforms was the Foreign Investment Law. This raised tension between local and foreign interests include rights to land use, tax concessions, and standards in terms of labour requirements for skilled positions..."
Melissa Crouch
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2015-08-11
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...Myanmar?s political transition is an unusual phenomenon: it is self-made, without any external agency supervising, monitoring or enforcing it. It also derives its power, and authority from the popular support it generates, with or without elections to legitimise it, because of the wider political support it enjoys for the moment.
Any ?incentives” for those in real control to continue the transition are contained within the process, either in terms of positive options that become available (such as substantial new trade or investment or funding), or in terms of negative options that disappear (lifting of political sanctions, economic sanctions, and inclusion in regional development arrangements, rather than exclusion).
The other main characteristic of Myanmar?s transition is that it is tolerated and in principle supported by those giving up power ? the military ? who can allow it to continue, or who can block it, partially or totally. In all of this, external influences play an important part, but are not critical; they can be supportive, collaborative and expect considerable benefits for their own interests, but they should anticipate a perhaps less than perfect ?Myanmar” solution, and cannot count on imposing their own wishes or creating ?mirror” copies of their own socio-economic paradigms. In Myanmar, new institutions are being established but are not necessarily yet fully tested; and old institutions are being (slowly) transformed, but are often still incapable of producing the hoped for results.
In such circumstances, it can hardly be surprising that many of Myanmar?s ?reforms” since 2011 are incomplete, are not delivering all the outcomes hoped for, or in many instances, have not yet even begun to be carried out in any concrete way. Some changes can be implemented by announcement alone, and might rely on general goodwill or on willingness to give things ?a go” to see whether or not they can work reasonably well..."
Trevor Wilson
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2015-07-14
Date of entry/update:
2015-07-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Dialogue/reform/transition in Burma/Myanmar - analyses and statements, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
more
Description:
Focus on Karen refugees....."The force of habit, the awe of traditional command and a sentimental attachment to it, the desire to satisfy public opinion - all combine to make custom be obeyed for its own sake. In this the ?savages? do not differ from the members of any self-contained community with a limited horizon, whether this be an Eastern European ghetto, an Oxford college, or a Fundamentalist Middle West community. But love of tradition, conformism and the sway of custom account but to a very partial extent for obedience to rules among dons, savages, peasants, or Junkers. [. . .] in the main these rules are followed because their practical utility is recognized by reason and testified by experience."
(Malinowski 1926).....Re the attached sales flyer for the book, the publishers say that a paperback version will be out in July or August.
Kirsten Mcconnachie
Source/publisher:
"Governing Refugees - Justice, Order and Legal Pluralism" (Chapter 4)
Date of publication:
2014-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2015-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Legal Pluralism - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Anthropological literature on refugees and migrants
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
618.94 KB
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Description:
"We lawyers just cannot help being Darwinian. We simply cannot shake off our assumption that some legal cultures are more developed than others. We prefer written law to oral law; we are happier with professional judges than with people?s rough justice; and — need I say? — we just love cultures that have their own lawyers.".....Re the attached sales flyer for the book, the publishers say that a paperback version will be out in July or August.
(Andrew Huxley 2011)
Kirsten Mcconnachie
Source/publisher:
"Governing Refugees - Justice, Order and Legal Pluralism" (Chapter 6)
Date of publication:
2014-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2015-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Legal Pluralism - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Anthropological literature on refugees and migrants
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
599.05 KB
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Description:
"...The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Myanmar?s third and current constitution (?the Constitution”), was adopted following a referendum on 10 May 2008, held just eight days after Cyclone Nargis, the most devastating natural disaster in Myanmar?s history. There was little or no public participation in the production of the text of the Constitution; indeed the proposed text was published just one month before the referendum and was unavailable to a large part of the electorate....
2. However, Myanmar has recently taken a significant step towards participatory democracy by inviting public views on the amendment of the Constitution. In July 2013 the Joint Committee for Reviewing the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (?the Committee”) was established with the aims of:
guaranteeing the perpetuation, peace, stability and development of the Republic;
bringing eternal peace to all national races and ethnic people by bringing unity between them; and
carrying on democratic reforms for building the state.
One of the Committee?s first actions was, on October 3 2013, to announce a nationwide consultation exercise aimed at garnering advice from a broad range of political parties, organizations and individuals as to how the Constitution might be amended. This exercise ran until December 31 2013. The Committee has stated that it received 28,247 letters in response....
3. During the consultation period, the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law (?the Bingham Centre”) took part in a project to encourage participation by the citizens of Myanmar in that consultation exercise. The Bingham Centre assisted in many well-attended workshops across different parts of Myanmar between October and December 2013. As a result of these workshops, over 500 people submitted responses to the Committee. A summary of the Bingham Centre?s experience of people?s priorities for reform is set out below....
4. However, the immediate priority for reform identified by the overwhelming majority of delegates at the numerous workshops was to amend the onerous procedure for amending the Constitution, without which reform is likely to be extremely difficult. This paper seeks to put those popular concerns into context by comparing to other constitutions around the world the three elements of this procedure, which, in our view, combine to make it so onerous. Those three elements are:..."
Naina Patel, Alex Goodman, Naomi Snider
Source/publisher:
Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law (Working Paper No 2014/01)
Date of publication:
2014-01-00
Date of entry/update:
2014-10-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, National and State constitutions, draft constitutions and amendments (commentary)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
768.71 KB
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Title: MYANMAR Country Profile prepared by the ICJ Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
Description:
"Myanmar has thus far failed to ratify most human rights treaties.
Judicial independence is provided for in law, but not respected in practice. In particular,
the degree of control exercised by the Executive over the appointment process and the
lack of transparency over criteria for selection and promotion, insufficient security of
tenure, executive control over the budget and insufficient pay and training are inconsistent
with international standards.
Lawyers lack a self-governing professional body that can defend the profession?s integrity
and professional interests. Although their independence has increased substantially since
2011, on-going challenges remain, such as interference in politically sensitive and criminal
cases. Structural problems such as the poor state of legal education have yet to be
addressed."
Source/publisher:
International Commission of Jurists - Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
Date of publication:
2014-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2014-10-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The chapter of authoritarian rule may finally be ending
in Burma?s complicated narrative. The Burmese government
has taken visible steps towards democratic reform. Despite
reports of military control and intimidation at the polls,the
country transitioned to civilian rule in 20103 after fifty years
of control by a military junta. The government also released
the country?s preeminent democratic leader and icon, Aung
San Suu Kyi, who has been on house arrest sporadically
since 1989. Rapid political reforms soon followed.
The ability to reconcile Burma?s political history and
transition to a democracy will be a challenging one. A
successful transformation requires more than legal
formalism; legal formalism cannot work without the
development of a civil society. However, legal formalism, as
Suu Kyi has urged, ensures a rule of law that will allow
Burmese citizens, including minority groups, to protect
themselves from their government?s historical abuse of power.
This Comment discusses how the expansion of legal rights for
individuals and minorities is the direct way for Burma to
secure a democratic future..."
Connie Ng
Source/publisher:
Santa Clara Law Review (Vol 53, No. 1)
Date of publication:
2013-07-25
Date of entry/update:
2014-08-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Dialogue/reform/transition in Burma/Myanmar - analyses and statements, Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
198.43 KB
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Description:
"...In this article I examine the rule-of-law language and practices of the state
in Myanmar in terms of the ?thin? rule of law, which is sometimes described
as ?rule by law.? I am not advocating this type of rule of law. Rather, I am
interested in how it can be used to explore the sort of authoritarian legality
found in Myanmar, and to advance more critical study of Asian governments?
stated commitments to the rule of law..."
Nick Cheesman
Source/publisher:
Pacific Affairs: Volume 82, No. 4 Winter 2009/2010
Date of publication:
2010-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2014-08-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
77.12 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Abstract:
"After
nearly
thirty
years
of
self
imposed
isolation,
Myanmar
has
re-
emerged
as
a
significant
potential
destination
for
foreign
investment.
One
of
the
key
attractions
of
Myanmar
as
a
destination
for
foreign
investment
is
its
legal
system
and
historical
commitment
to
the
rule
of
law.
With
ASEAN
membership
and
increasing
levels
of
foreign
investment
in
Myanmar,
use
of
its
legal
system
by
foreign
investors
and
their
counsel
has
grown.
The
aim
of
this
article
is
to
outline,
for
both
investors
and
legal
professionals
in
other
countries
throughout
the
region,
Myanmar?s
legal
system
and
its
practical
operation
in
the
area
of
commercial
litigation,
including
the
enforcement
of
foreign
judgments
and
arbitral
awards"
Alec Christie
Source/publisher:
Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal Association
Date of publication:
2000-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2013-04-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Legal history and philosophy of Burma (texts and commentary), Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
304.28 KB
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Description:
The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns in the strongest terms the announcement of the commander of the Sagaing Region Police Force, Myanmar, that the police will arrest and charge eight human rights defenders whom it blames for inciting protests against the army-backed copper mine project at the Letpadaung Hills, in Monywa. The commission also condemns the latest round of needless police violence against demonstrators there.
Source/publisher:
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
Date of publication:
2013-04-29
Date of entry/update:
2013-04-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Copper mining, Land confiscation for military, commercial and other purposes
Language:
English
more
Description:
Executive Summary:-
Background:
• In June 2012, Perseus Strategies and New Perimeter,
in partnership with the Jacob Blaustein Institute for
the Advancement of Human Rights, initiated a broad
rule of law assessment of Myanmar
• Upon completion of this assessment, New Perimeter
and Perseus Strategies will launch a program
where potentially thousands of pro bono hours from
the global law firm DLA Piper will be invested into
a focused project to advance law reform efforts
in Myanmar...
Current situation:
• On November 7, 2010, Myanmar held its first
election in 20 years – much of the reaction to
the reforms instituted by President Thein Sein,
inaugurated in March 2011, reflects the hope that
the country can break free of its authoritarian past
that involves widespread human-rights abuses
• Following by-elections in April 2012, Aung
San Suu Kyi has joined the government as
an elected MP, along with several dozen
representatives of the National League for
Democracy and ethnic political parties
• Major reform efforts have been initiated by the
government across an array of areas, which has
reinforced these hopes, but there remains a large
gap between public perception and the reality of
the impact of reform efforts on the ground
• There is a strong consensus across the political
spectrum that advancing the rule of law and law
reform efforts are a top priority, but the government,
opposition, and other parties have different views
as to the sequencing of specific efforts...
Key findings:
• President Thein Sein and his allies in the
government are making genuine reforms;
however, many government institutions
are quite fragile and the role of the military
remains opaque
• For these changes to be permanent and
irreversible, constitutional reform is important,
but it is unclear if the government will undertake
such efforts in the near term
• Law reform is being implemented from the
top‑down, but these efforts must be driven into
government bureaucracies and down to the
local level, and coupled with major grassroots
efforts to educate people about their rights
• The judicial system is in need of large‑scale
reform – corruption is a serious issue and
decisions are sometimes made by the
executive branch
• The parliament will be a significant player in law
reform efforts, but requires major investment to build
its capacity so its contributions can be meaningful
• Myanmar requires unprecedented effort to create
a criminal defense and legal aid system,
reconstitute the Bar Association, and rebuild
the legal education system
• The Myanmar National Human Rights
Commission has potential, but should be
reconstituted by the parliament as an independent
government agency, in accordance with the
Paris Principles
• The government has signed several new treaties,
but reform efforts could also be advanced
through the signing and ratification of the
Int?l Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
Int?l Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), and Convention Against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading
Treatment (CAT), which the government has
indicated its intention to do.
Source/publisher:
DLA-Piper (New Perimeter), Perseus Strategies, Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
Date of publication:
2013-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2013-03-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.28 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
Report of the International Bar Association?s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) Supported by the IBAHRI Trust and the Open Society Foundations.....Contents:
Executive Summary...
1. Introduction:
1.1 The IBAHRI delegation and its mandate;
1.2 Interviews and consultations;
1.3 The rule of law: an overview...
2. Background and History:
2.1 Myanmar in facts and figures;
2.2 Myanmar before 1988;
2.3 Myanmar in the two decades after the 1988 coup;
2.4 The 2008 Constitution;
2.5 Myanmar since 2008...
3. The Civil Sphere: Social, Economic, Cultural,
Civil and Political Rights:
3.1 Background;
3.2 Current legal structure;
3.3 Findings;
Access to courts and the administration of justice;
Freedom of expression, association and assembly;
Ethnic conflicts;
3.4 Conclusion ...
4. The Political Sphere: the Branches of Government:
4.1 Background;
4.2 Current legal structure;
4.3 Findings;
4.4 Conclusion...
5. The Legislative Sphere: Parliament and the
Reform Process:
5.1 Background;
5.2 The structure of the legislature;
5.3 Findings;
The Bill Committee of the Lower House;
The Complaints Committee of the Upper House;
Other perspectives;
5.4 Conclusion...
6. The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission:
6.1 Background;
6.2 Current legal structure;
6.3 Findings;
6.4 Conclusion...
7. The Military Sphere: the Role of the Army:
7.1 Background;
7.2 Current legal structure;
7.3 Findings;
7.4 Conclusion...
8. The Judicial Sphere (I): Courts and Judges:
8.1 Background;
8.2 Current legal structure;
8.3 Findings;
8.4 Conclusion...
9. The Judicial Sphere (II): the Legal Profession:
9.1 Background;
9.2 Current legal structure;
9.3 Findings;
Former and current lawyers;
The Attorney General and Justice Soe Nyunt;
9.4 Conclusion...
10. Conclusions and Recommendations...
Annexes:
A. General Assembly Resolution 66/102 on the Rule of Law at the
National and International Levels...
B. The Peaceful Demonstration and Gathering Act 2012...
C. Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions
(The Paris Principles)...
D. UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary ...
E. UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers...
F. IBA Standards for the Independence of the Legal Profession...
G. UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors...
H. International Association of Prosecutors? Standards of
Professional Responsibility and Statement of the Essential
Duties and Rights of Prosecutors...
I. The Venice Commission Report?s Checklist for Evaluating the
Rule of Law in Single States...
List of Acronyms
Source/publisher:
International Bar Association?s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Date of publication:
2012-12-20
Date of entry/update:
2012-12-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
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408.75 KB
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Description:
"Much has been made in recent times of the continued use in Burma of antiquated and anti-human rights laws from the country?s decades of military rule, as well as from the colonial era. While legislators discuss the amendment or revocation of some laws, and the issue is debated in the public domain, much less is said of the superstructure of military-introduced administrative orders that officials around the country continue to employ in their day-to-day activities, invariably in order to circumscribe or deny human rights.
Among these orders are some being used to restrict or prevent access to land of people who rightfully occupy or cultivate the land, as in the case of villagers from some 26 villages affected by the copper mining project in the Letpadaung Mountain range in Sagaing Region, on which the Asian Human Rights Commission has previously spoken (AHRC-PRL-044-2012). The AHRC has obtained copies of a series of orders issued by Zaw Moe Aung, chief administrator of Sarlingyi Township, where villagers have been fighting since mid-2012 against the expansion of copper mining in the region onto their farmlands. The orders, issued under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, prohibit villagers from access to their farmlands or any form of use of the farmlands, such as for the grazing of cattle. The latest orders expired at the end of October; however, people in the region expect that they will be renewed, or that in any event they will simply be denied access to their land, which is being taken over by an army-owned company and its partner..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
Date of publication:
2012-11-05
Date of entry/update:
2012-11-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific, Tenure insecurity in Burma (including land grabbing)
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Over the past several months, Burma?s pro-democracy icon and opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi has constantly repeated the refrain that the government must establish the ?rule of
law.?
That?s a worthwhile goal, as well as a necessary achievement if Burma is going to raise the
quality of life and standard of living for its 54 million long-oppressed and impoverished
people.
In the words of William H. Neukom, the president of the World Justice Project (WJP), ?The
rule of law is the foundation for communities of opportunity and equity—it is the predicate for
the eradication of poverty, violence, corruption, pandemics and other threats to civil society.?
But what does the ?rule of law? mean?..."
Stephen Bloom
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2012-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2012-07-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rule of Law - Burma/Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
94.26 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Burmese democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi told an LSE audience that fairness and freedom can only be restored to her country under the rule of law.
Speaking on her first visit to the UK for 24 years, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said that unity in Burma and a new constitution could only be achieved within a legal framework. ?This is what we all need - unless we see that justice is to be done, we cannot proceed to genuine democracy?, she told an audience of students, staff and visitors.
She said that she condemned violence wherever it occurred, but that a full understanding of its causes was key: ?Resolving conflict is not about condemnation, it?s about finding the roots, the causes of that conflict and how they can be resolved in the best way possible.?
The leader of the National League of Democracy in Burma, who has spent much of her life under house arrest on the orders of the country?s military rulers, was speaking as part of a round-table discussion at LSE featuring academic and legal experts.
LSE Director Judith Rees reminded listeners that the event was taking place on Aung San Suu Kyi?s 67th birthday and that everyone wanted to celebrate that she was able to enjoy the day in freedom.
Professor Rees said: ?Your trip to the UK will go down in history and I?m sure that it?s an emotional trip for you.?
She also invited the crowd to sing Happy Birthday, adding: ?It?s a tribute not just to you but to all those who have campaigned for freedom in Burma.?
Alex Peters-Day, General Secretary of LSE?s Students? Union, presented the guest with a surprise present - a photograph of her late father taken in London in 1947 - and with an LSE baseball cap, a traditional gift for visiting leaders.
The panel discussion also involved LSE professors Mary Kaldor and Christine Chinkin, Burmese activist and visiting fellow Dr Maung Zarni, Oxford professor Nicola Lacey and barrister Sir Geoffrey Nice QC.
Professor Kaldor ended the event by passing on a question from a student who?d asked Aung San Suu Kyi how she had found her strength to continue her campaigning. She answered: ?It?s all of you, and people like you, who give me the strength to continue. And I suppose I have a stubborn streak in me.? "..."...
Speaker(s): Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Professor Christine Chinkin, Professor Nicola Lacey, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, Dr Maung Zarni
Recorded on 19 June 2012 in Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is Chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Member of Parliament of Kawhmu constituency in Burma. She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1991.
Christine Chinkin, FBA, is currently Professor in International Law at the London School of Economics. She has widely published on issues of international human rights law, law, including as co-author of The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis.
Nicola Lacey holds a Senior Research Fellowship at All Souls College, and is Professor of Criminal Law and Legal Theory at the University of Oxford, having previously held a chair at the London School of Economics. Nicola?s research is in criminal law and criminal justice, with a particular focus on comparative and historical scholarship. In 2011 she won the Hans Sigrist Prize for scholarship on the rule of law in modern societies.
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC is a barrister; he is a signatory of Harvard?s Crimes in Burma report. Sir Geoffrey is a member of Burma Justice Committee and works with NGO?s and other groups seeking international recognition of crimes committed in conflicts; represents government and similar interests at the ICC.
A Burmese native, Dr Zarni is a veteran founder of the Free Burma Coalition, one of the Internet?s first and largest human rights campaigns and a Visiting Fellow at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, LSE. His forthcoming book, provisionally titled Life under the Boot: 50-years of Military Dictatorship in Burma, will be published by Yale University Press.
Mary Kaldor is professor of Global Governance in the Department of International Development and Director of the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit at LSE. She writes on globalisation, international relations and humanitarian intervention, global civil society and global governance, as well as what she calls New Wars. "
Source/publisher:
Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) via Youtube
Date of publication:
2012-06-19
Date of entry/update:
2012-06-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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