MNHRC Monitor - Burma Partnership

Campaigns: MNHRC Monitor

On 5 September 2011, the Burma Government announced that it had established the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) which would be charged with promoting and safeguarding the fundamental rights of citizens in accordance with the Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions, otherwise known as the Paris Principles.

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993, the Paris Principles set forth minimum standards for the creation of a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), along with its practical obligations and responsibilities.

With the passing of its enabling law through the Burma Parliament in March 2014, the MNHRC established its mandate. It is currently in the process of applying for accreditation with the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions.

The establishment of the MNHRC can largely be seen as an attempt at placating the international community at that time; most notably, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, who had been calling for the establishment of a UN-led Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in the country.

Yet so far, the MNHRC has shown it is unable to uphold its mandate of human rights protection and promotion due in large part to a severe lack of independence, effectiveness, and transparency.

Within the enabling law and in regular practice, the President and the Executive have a disproportionate amount of power when selecting new Commission Members while engagement with external stakeholders, a stipulation of the Paris Principles, is absent in the practice of the MNHRC.

Despite being operational for less than five years, the MNHRC has already demonstrated on numerous occasions that it will allow human rights investigations to be overruled or influenced by the Burma Army. The controversial prosecution of Brang Shawng, who was charged in a criminal court after issuing a complaint to the MNHRC regarding the death of his daughter at the hands of the Burma Army, showed how the NHRI was incapable of preventing the intimidation of human rights defenders and the inability to hold the military accountable.

A similar theme of military impunity was found in the case of Ko Par Gyi, in which a military tribunal privately acquitted two soldiers who killed the journalist in military custody against recommendations made by the MNHRC that the case be handled in a public court of law. The report of the MNRHC investigation itself was full of inconsistencies and did not address the signs of torture on the body of the murdered journalist.

Inaction is another stain on the legitimacy of the MNHRC. Currently, hundreds of political activists remain imprisoned or awaiting trial on baseless charges and peaceful activists continue to be met with ruthless force and arbitrary arrest for merely criticizing the actions of the Burma Government. The Burma Army continues to commit systematic and widespread human rights abuses such as extrajudicial killing, sexual violence, torture, and forced labor in conflict and non-conflict areas. In other parts of Burma, ethnic minorities are being confined to camps and face systematic discrimination abuse from the highest levels of Government and society. Throughout all of this, the MNHRC has remained shockingly quiet – only conducting human rights investigations when the political risk is non-existent.

For the MNHRC to be effective, it must demonstrate a commitment to the international standards set forth in the Paris Principles. This includes constructing a meaningful and recurring dialogue with civil society, abolishing the influence of the President and the Burma Army, and advocating for the protection of human rights defenders. The international community must also seek to pressure the Burma Government into creating an NHRI that is truly in line with the Paris Principles and that has proven its dedication to the promotion and protection of human rights.