The National League for Democracy (NLD)’s electoral victory in November 2015 gave Myanmar its first democratically-elected government in 54 years. But over a year onwards from the NLD’s ascension to power, the military maintains its stranglehold on political capital, and impunity continues to flourish unchecked. While there has been some progress, such as the release of hundreds of political prisoners and improved flexibility to conduct human rights work, the overall human rights situation remains precarious. In this context, it is even more urgent for the MNHRC to interpret its mandate in a “broad, liberal, purposive” manner and become a more effective promoter and protector of human rights.

In the past two years, discriminatory laws such as the four controversial Race and Religion Protection Laws, enacted in 2015, continue to limit the rights of women and religious minorities, and the politicized, disproportionate use of certain legislation like Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, continue to curtail democratic space. As of May 2017, there are 40 political prisoners serving sentences, and 209 people awaiting trial for political activities. The murder of constitutional expert and NLD legal advisor U Ko Ni in January 2017 is a stark reminder of the fragile climate faced by people who attempt to change the status quo.

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အစီရင်ခံစာမြန်မာဘာသာကို ဤနေရာတွင် ရယူနိုင်သည်။