Equality Myanmar aims to build up a strong network of organizations and activists across different sectors and levels of Myanmar society for the advancement of human rights for all. The recent reforms in the country have given way to opportunities for organizations with experience in human rights to engage more directly with duty bearers and decision makers at the local, regional and national levels. EQMM wants to seize this opportunity to make a real difference for human rights in Myanmar and so we are complementing our traditional Human Rights Education approach with a renewed Advocacy Strategy designed to bring the voices of those most vulnerable to those that are accountable for their wellbeing. In cooperation with partners and external resource persons, EQMM is coordinating and support advocacy efforts that target both rights holders and duty bearers – representatives of state institutions and political decision-makers-.
In essence, EQMM has strengthened its efforts to provide participatory human rights education while also effectively channeling the concerns and issues from a grassroots level into spheres of authority and duty-holding. At the same time, EQMM has continued to empower civil society actors to engage with authorities in Myanmar and with UN agencies and international human rights advocates.
EQMM Advocacy Strategy is composed of its Core Advocacy Programme and more targeted, theme-focused advocacy efforts.
Core Advocacy:
Constitutes the backbone of EQMM Advocacy Strategy and has turned into an Organizational flagship in the last few years. It cultivates strong participatory and user-centered advocacy practices aimed at human right defenders, civil society organizations, legislators and Government staff to assist them in delivering services and develop policies that respect human rights, represent people’s collective voice and address citizen’s needs.
Core Advocacy is structured around the provision of advocacy training and mentoring to right holders and entities that represent them, outreach and lobbying to duty bearers – with a strong focus on Members of the Parliament – and documentation and research on key human rights’ issues. It is also designed to strengthen citizen engagement and support mechanisms that encourage public accountability and citizen feedback in decision-making processes. EQMM is currently participating in advocacy towards the ratification of the ICCPR in Myanmar, the passing of the Child Right Bill and many other efforts related to Access to Justice, Right to Information, Freedom of Expression, anti-Hate Speech law, etc.
Among the typical activities EQMM implements as part of its Core Advocacy Programme, we can find the following ones:
- Lobbying Trips/Meetings in national and sub-national Government institutions (Parliaments, Ministries, MNHRC, etc.).
- Advocacy Training and Mentoring training to guide and provide advice to human right defenders and organizations.
- Exposure Trips to Nay Pyi Taw for civil society organizations to build the links between right holders and duty bearers.
Research papers, policy notes, statements and documentation of human rights issues in Myanmar.
The Human Rights Council’s UPR – as a mechanism for reviewing the human rights obligations and commitments of all UN member states every four years – is a unique process in which a variety of stakeholders, including civil society organizations, have the opportunity to submit information about the human rights situation in a given country. Nowhere else in the human rights system NGO information is treated on a par with UN information and a state’s national report as the 3 bases for a UN process. For Myanmar, particularly, it is one of the few UN mechanisms that can apply pressure on the GoM to ensure it adheres to its international human rights obligations.
Despite its commitment to a democratic reform process, the Government of Myanmar has yet to sign or ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the key components of the Universal Bill of Rights and of sustained democratic reform. EQMM is very active raising awareness about the importance and urgency of signing and ratifying the ICCPR.
As an Intermediate Support Organization (ISO), this project brings EQMM to work with civil society organizations to strengthen their capacities to address human rights issues and influence and participate in policy dialogue and decision making in Myanmar. The project has so far reached to 21 different local civil society organizations (CSOs) in ten different states and regions through two different phases. A first phase that saw the advocacy capacities of 15 CSO strengthened and a second phase that took 6 new CSO in and continued building the capacities of the initial 15.
Since 2013, this program has become a main stream of EQMM in our advocacy for Child Rights issues. This program focuses on engaging and empoweringtrafficked, at-risk and vulnerable children to advocate and educate on their own behalf through theater, and eradicating child labors in Myanmar and Asia. United ACT beneficiaries learn basic skills in creative drama and writing, body movement, sounds, music and visual theater, while fostering their imagination and strengthening their confidence to artistically express issues that are important to them.
