Open letter: Removal of the membership of the dis-accredited Myanmar National Human Rights Commission from the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum

To:

Honorable Chair and Members of the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum (SEANF)

Honorable Chairperson Ms. Anis Hidayah
National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), Indonesia

Honorable Provedor Mr. Virgilio da Silva Guterres
Provedor de Direitos Humanos e Justiça (PDHJ), Timor-Leste

Honorable Chairperson Dato’ Seri Mohd Hishamudin Yunus
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM)

Honorable Chairperson Atty. Richard Paat Palpal-latoc
Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP)

Honorable Chairperson Ms. Pornprapai Ganjanarintr
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT)

17 November 2025

Open letter: Removal of the membership of the dis-accredited Myanmar National Human Rights Commission from the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum

Dear Honorable Commissioners,

We, the CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar) (Working Group) and the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), write to once again urge the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum (SEANF) to take the necessary actions to remove the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC)—which has been dis-accredited by and removed from the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF)—from your network without further delay.

On 28 February 2025, we communicated and published an open letter to SEANF following the removal of the MNHRC’s accreditation status by GANHRI on 31 December 2024, urging SEANF to follow suit. On 7 August 2025, we issued a press release acknowledging the APF’s decision to expel the MNHRC from its network, once again appealing to SEANF to do the same.

This year, we have also engaged with individual members of SEANF, including through in-person meetings with the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT), the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP), the Provedor de Direitos Humanos e Justiça (PDHJ), and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM). In those engagements, we raised our deep concern regarding the continued membership and participation of the MNHRC in SEANF, particularly after GANHRI’s decision.

In the nearly 11 months since GANHRI’s landmark decision to remove the accreditation and membership of the MNHRC, limited progress has been seen on the part of SEANF to hold the MNHRC accountable.

Therefore, with this letter, we urge SEANF to take immediate and decisive action, particularly given the imminent threat of the military junta’s illegal sham election on 28 December 2025, which will only deepen Myanmar’s ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis.

As the region’s credible NHRI forum committed to promoting and protecting human rights, SEANF must uphold human rights principles by ending all engagements with the Myanmar military, its activities, and the MNHRC, which it controls.

To safeguard the Forum’s credibility and uphold its commitment to human rights, genuine disengagement from the MNHRC requires its firm and formal expulsion from SEANF. Continuing to engage with the MNHRC and allowing the continuation of the MNHRC’s membership in SEANF severely undermine the institutional integrity and credibility of the Forum. The MNHRC continues to shield the military from accountability for its grave human rights violations and atrocity crimes against the Myanmar people. The military junta also violently punishes individuals who report such violations to the MNHRC. For example, the junta tortured Ko Thet Hnin Aung, General Secretary of the Myanmar Industries Craft and Services Trade Unions Federation, for reporting prison conditions to the MNHRC. These acts of reprisal led to Ko Thet Hnin Aung sustaining head injuries.

SEANF’s other members—all of whom hold ‘A’ status—have the responsibility to not only protect, but also strengthen the Forum’s institutional integrity and credibility. In this regard, removing the MNHRC is the principled and necessary next step. It is vital that the military-controlled MNHRC no longer be allowed to claim false credibility or legitimacy from any NHRI network, as it operates as a smokescreen for the junta’s widespread and systematic human rights violations and atrocity crimes.

We earnestly request SEANF to discuss this matter during the Forum’s Annual Conference on 18–20 November and to urgently take the necessary actions to remove the MNHRC from your network. Pending the procedural steps for the expulsion of the MNHRC, SEANF should immediately end all forms of engagement with the MNHRC.

As we work towards the establishment of a new independent and impartial national human rights commission of Myanmar—one that fully complies with the Paris Principles—we look forward to SEANF’s support, collaboration, and future endorsement of this endeavor. Your decisive action to remove the MNHRC from your network—in line with GANHRI’s and the APF’s removals—will signal SEANF’s strong commitment to human rights and accountability to the people of Myanmar and the region.

Sincerely,

The CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar)
The Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI)

For more information, please contact:

• The CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar); WG_NHRI@protonmail.com
•  ANNI Secretariat, FORUM-ASIA; anni@forum-asia.org

About the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) 

The Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) was established in December 2006. It is a network of Asian non-governmental organisations and human rights defenders working on issues related to National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). ANNI currently has 33 member organisations from 21 countries or territories. ANNI members work on strengthening the work and functioning of Asian NHRIs to better promote and protect human rights as well as to advocate for the improved compliance of Asian NHRIs with international standards, including the Paris Principles and General Observations of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the Global Alliance of NHRIs (GANHRI). The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) has served as the Secretariat of ANNI since its establishment in 2006.

More information at: https://forum-asia.org/anni/

About the CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar)

The CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar) advocates for the establishment of a new NHRI—tentatively named the Union Human Rights Commission—to replace the illegitimate MNHRC which has aligned itself with the illegal military junta. The Working Group was previously known as the ‘CSO Working Group on MNHRC Reform.’ Currently, it consists of 20 Myanmar civil society organizations. From its founding in 2019 until the attempted coup in February 2021, the Working Group consistently advocated for an effective MNHRC that demonstrates a commitment to the international standards set forth in the Paris Principles.

More information at: https://www.facebook.com/WGonNHRIBurma
Twitter: @WG_MMNHRI

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