Myanmar: Official Report On Rakhine State Conflict Flawed

Following the communal violence that wracked the western parts of Myanmar near the border of Bangladesh in 2012, the country’s president established a commission of inquiry comprising of retired public servants, religious figures, politicians, academics and members of civil society. The commission handed down its findings on 22 April 2013. Despite high expectations, the 119-page report is gravely flawed […]

MYANMAR: Police Who Attacked Peaceful Protestors Must Be Prosecuted

The struggle of farmers and their allies in the Letpadaung Hills of central Myanmar against the expansion of a copper mining operation under a military-owned holding company and a partner company from China obtained international attention when in the early morning hours of 29 November 2012 paramilitary police launched a night time […]

Joint Oral Statement to the 22nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council

Mr. President:

Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, Lawyers for Lawyers and Asian Legal Resource Centre welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur.[1] We share his appreciation of the progress towards recognition of human rights in Myanmar,[2] including the release of some prisoners of conscience […]

The Death of Phyo Wai Aung: Myanmar’s Brutal Institutions Claim Another Victim

At the twentieth session of the Human Rights Council, the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) drew the attention of delegates—not for the first time—to the case of Phyo Wai Aung, a young man falsely convicted of involvement in a bombing attack during 2010 that killed 10 people and injured scores […]

Targeting and Torturing Public Enemies Through the Unlawful Associations Act in Myanmar

In January 2013, the Asian Legal Resource Centre released a special dossier of 36 cases brought by personnel of the Myanmar armed forces and police under the 1908 Unlawful Associations Act, against people accused of contact with the Kachin Independence Army […]

Savage Torture in Ordinary Criminal Cases

One misconception about the use of torture in Myanmar is that it has been a form of human rights abuse most commonly associated with the cases of political prisoners, and therefore in the current period we should expect the incidence of torture to diminish as political conditions change […]

MYANMAR: Myanmar at Risk of Land-Grabbing Epidemic

In a written statement during its September 2011 session, the Asian Legal Resource Centre alerted the Human Rights Council to the dangers posed to the rights of people in Myanmar by the convergence of military, business and administrative interests […]

The ASEAN Human Rights Declaration: Drafts must be published and subject to meaningful consultations with local, national and regional civil society and human rights defenders

We, the undersigned international human rights organizations, are concerned that the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has yet to take the necessary steps to ensure that the process of drafting the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration […]

Bar Councils Exhorted to Support Burmese Lawyers

The Asian Legal Resource Centre on Friday issued an appeal to bar councils worldwide to support lawyers in Burma who have had their licences revoked for political reasons […]

Oral Statement to the 17th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

The ALRC is of the opinion that the Council need only look at the recommendations that Myanmar has not accepted to understand the challenges that the UPR faces in attempting to be relevant and effective concerning extreme human rights situations. Myanmar has rejected repeated recommendations to end impunity and to reform its legal system in line with international standards […]