HUMAN RIGHTS DAY | Exiled Burmese student activist wants to go home

MANILA, Philippines — Khin Ohmar was a student activist in the 8888 Movement that the Myanmar military crushed more than 25 years ago. She has left the country as an exile and now holds dual citizenship, carrying an American passport. (Myanmar is the name the military government gives the country used to be known as […]

Burma’s Exiles Want Clear Rules for Return

By NYIEN NYIEN / THE IRRAWADDY Shortly after assuming office, President Thein Sein made one of his most symbolic promises to date: On Aug. 17, 2011, he announced that the country would welcome the return of exiles that fled Burma throughout decades of brutal military dictatorship. The announcement was greeted with skepticism; at the time, […]

Persecution of Rohingya is Asean’s disgrace

By  Charles Santiago KUALA LUMPUR — With Barack Obama gracing the halls of Naypyidaw this week, the world has quite rightly been calling loudly for the President of the United States of America to raise concerns regarding the backslide in human rights and democracy in Myanmar, not least of which being the institutionalized persecution and […]

If Obama Only Talks About One Thing in Burma It Must Be the Rohingya

By Charlie Campbell When U.S. President Barack Obama visited Burma, officially known as Myanmar, in November 2012, he found it abuzz with promise. Sanctions had been eased, political prisoners released and Rangoon hotels were teeming with foreign executives eager to harness the nation’s abundant natural resources, cheap workforce and enviable location between regional titans India and […]

Obama’s Chance to Make Burma a Genuine Foreign Policy Success

As President Obama prepares to make his second visit to Burma, it is worth looking back at the promises made to him by Burma’s President Thein Sein on his last visit in November 2012 and to assess the worth of these promises. Burma, after all, is largely seen as a foreign policy success by the current administration amid the mess of Ukraine, Libya and the threat of ISIS […]

Special rapporteur underscores need for new rights resolution

The United Nations General Assembly is in full swing, with the representatives debating, among other pressing issues, whether to pass another resolution on Myanmar. As part of that process, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, has recently published her country report, which she will soon present to […]

World Bank Should Promote Human Rights in Burma, NGOs Say

RANGOON — Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Burmese civil society organizations have urged the World Bank Group to put human rights at the center of its new Burma country strategy.

They said the bank should encourage an improvement in respect for rights within the Burmese government, while also ensuring that its development projects do not exacerbate ethnic conflict and the land rights’ situation […]

Rights body shake-up under fire

A former member of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission has questioned the legality of a recent commission reformation amid concerns that some of its more outspoken members have been jettisoned. Rights groups, meanwhile, described the changes as disappointing but said they were indicative of the broader failings of the commission, including a lack of […]

Myanmar Revamps Human Rights Panel Amid Criticism from Rights Groups

Myanmar President Thein Sein reshuffled the National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) on Thursday just as civil society groups issued a scathing report criticizing the authorities for not addressing its weaknesses under a new law that institutionalizes the body. Under a presidential order, Thein Sein revamped the previous 15-member commission, removing nine officials and adding five […]

NGOs Slam Performance of National Human Rights Commission

RANGOON — Burmese civil society groups on Thursday published a damning review of the performance of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC), saying that it had not successfully investigated “any case submitted to it” since it was formed by President Thein Sein in 2011. The report, titled “Burma: All the President’s Men,” also slammed […]