EU Program to Help the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission Must Ensure Substantive Changes

By Burma Partnership • May 29, 2012

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) was established 10 months ago by Burma’s President Thein Sein. However, there is still a long way to go for the MNHRC to become an independent, effective and transparent institution that protects and promotes the rights of the people of Burma.

As such, we welcome the announcement by Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative, to launch a programme to help the MNHRC. However, the EU’s support to the MNHRC must not be limited to increasing the skills of its personnel or it would only legitimize a dysfunctional institution that will best serve the government rather than the people of Burma. The EU must engage in a restructuring of the MNHRC to ensure it becomes an independent, transparent and effective institution.

In this short briefer, Burma Partnership presents recommendations to the EU to ensure its program brings substantive changes to the MNHRC to truly make it independent, transparent and accessible to victims of human rights violations.

Download the briefer here.