The Junta-controlled MNHRC Must Be Removed from GANHRI
“The MNHRC has been deadly silent on the military junta’s campaign of widespread and systematic atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar.”
The Myanmar military junta’s international crimes against the people across the country have only intensified since the attempted coup. Throughout constant reports of airstrikes targeting civilian areas—including schools, internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, hospitals and clinics, and religious buildings, the junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) has been deafeningly silent. Given the MNHRC’s lack of impartiality, independence, and compliance with the Paris Principles, regional and international human rights bodies must no longer allow it space at the table which claims to promote and protect human rights. Rather, the MNHRC must be immediately removed from all these platforms completely and immediately.
The latest attacks in nearly 44 months of violence by the Myanmar military junta include the bombing of an IDP camp on 5 September 2024, when a military jet dropped two 500-pound bombs in Pekhon Township, southern Shan State, killing nine people and injuring around 20 others. Around the same time, in Demawso Township, Karenni State, the military junta carried out two consecutive days of heavy bombings and shelling with heavy artillery, killing one person and further terrorizing local communities. Similarly, on 13 September, a brutal junta airstrike in Lashio Township, Shan State, killed five civilians and injured eight others.
Throughout this horrendous wave of violence—in fact for over the past three and a half years of the junta’s international crimes, the junta-controlled MNHRC has been utterly silent. It has failed to condemn these airstrikes and any other attack by the military junta, let alone provide civilian protection, accountability, remedies, and reparation for the countless communities slain or displaced nationwide. Instead, the body has been presenting itself as a legitimate human rights institution in regional and international bodies, thus continuing to lend false legitimacy to the military junta.
The MNHRC under the illegal junta’s control has long been a tool in the blood-soaked hands of the military, serving as a smokescreen for the junta’s ongoing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. As recently as 7 September 2024, the MNHRC chroreographed a cosmetic makeover by appointing three new members from religious minority communities. With this, the junta is using the MNHRC to show itself as inclusive and tolerant of religious differences, while on the ground these same religious minorities are systematically attacked by its operations. This proves once more how the MNHRC is under the junta’s control, lacking any semblance of independence or impartiality. On the other hand, it underlines the fact that the junta continues to desperately seek international recognition or legitimacy it could not get from the people of Myanmar.
As the junta relentlessly continues its campaign of terror, now is the time for the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions’ Sub-Committee on Accreditation (GANHRI-SCA) to remove the membership of the MNHRC, which is controlled by the junta and completely lacks the status of human rights institution of Myanmar.
In October 2023, the GANHRI-SCA initiated a Special Review of the MNHRC’s accreditation status due to its failure to comply with the Paris Principles, the international standards guiding national human rights institutions worldwide. The GANHRI-SCA’s significant and unprecedented decision included granting the junta-controlled MNHRC a one-year period to demonstrate compliance with these principles. The Special Review process was supported the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which describes the total lack of independence and credibility of the MNHRC, and the CSOs Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar) (Working Group).
As stated in an open letter from the Working Group, “The MNHRC has been deadly silent on the military junta’s campaign of widespread and systematic atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar. On the contrary, it has actively praised the military junta by describing their actions as “humanitarian” or describing the military junta’s peace talks as a “gigantic and forward-looking step in the right direction” despite their ongoing aerial attacks that are killing innocent children, women and the elderly.”
The people of Myanmar are continuing to suffer under the junta’s nationwide terror campaign systematically targeting civilians. The junta-controlled MNHRC, through its inaction and complicity, has long lost the right to claim itself as a human rights institution or to be allowed membership in any regional and international human rights bodies. During its upcoming meeting, in October 2024, GANHRI must be firm with its decision that is to stand on the Paris Principle and therefore stand with the people of Myanmar, and remove the junta-controlled MNHRC from its platform. This will be a critical step in ensuring that the global network remains committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, justice, and accountability. The time to act is now. In the global human rights network, there is no place for the junta-controlled MNHRC.
_______________________
[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
Southeast Asian Governments Must Support a Global Convention on Crimes Against Humanity
By ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
By Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
By Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Statement at the 57th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council
By Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Calling for emergency aid for the flood-affected people of Karenni State
By Interim Executive Council of Karenni
Statement on 2024 International Day to Protect Education from Attack
By Karen Human Rights Group
ကော်သူးလေတွင်းရှိကျောင်းများ ဘေးကင်းမှုဆိုင်ရာ ကြေညာစာတမ်း
By Karen National Union
Kawthoolei Safe School Declaration
By Karen National Union
By Karen National Union
By Karenni Human Rights Group
Sri Lankan victims of human trafficking rescued from Myanmar safely repatriated to Sri Lanka
By Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Sri Lanka
By National Unity Government, Ministry of Human Rights
At least 10 children killed in less than a week as deadly attacks continue in Myanmar
By UNICEF
By 316 Karenni and Myanmar Civil Society Organizations and Revolutionary Groups
By 316 Karenni and Myanmar Civil Society Organizations and Revolutionary Groups
Reports
By ALTSEAN-Burma, Asia Democracy Network, Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development, Burma Human Rights Network, Initiatives for International Dialogue, International Federation for Human Rights, Progressive Voice, US Campaign for Burma and Women’s Peace Network
ပဋိပက္ခကာလအတွင်း အရပ်သားနေအိမ်များ မီးရှို့ဖျက်ဆီးခံရမှု အခြေအနေ
By Data for Myanmar
Voice Up – A Gendered Overview of the Human Rights Situation in Southeastern Burma
By Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”
