25 July 2019<\/p>\n
We, the 24 organizations of the CSO Working Group on MNHRC Reform, call on the Selection Board to engage in a public, transparent and inclusive selection process to determine the next commissioners of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission\u2019s (MNHRC) when the current commissioners\u2019 terms end in September 2019. Given Myanmar\u2019s myriad of complex human rights issues and political realities, it is vital that the commission is reinvigorated with members who have the expertise, experience, and mindset to tackle pressing human rights protection issues and stand on the side of human rights defenders and rights activists. The current composition of the MNHRC has proved unable to adequately protect the rights of those most marginalized, especially in conflict-affected ethnic areas, as seen in the cases of Ko Par Gyi, Brang Shawng, and the recent investigation into the Kyauktan Massacre in Rakhine State which sided with the Myanmar military\u2019s version of events of the murder of eight detainees, despite witnesses and survivors stating otherwise.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n In 2014, seven of the current ten commissioners were selected upon the promulgation of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission Law. According to the MNHRC Law, 30 potential commissioners are nominated by the Selection Board to the President who, in coordination with the Speaker of the Upper House and the Lower House, selects between seven and 15 members, and assigns the roles of both Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson. The term of a commissioner lasts five years and a commissioner can serve a maximum of two terms, meaning the current commissioners are eligible to serve a second term.<\/p>\n However, trust between civil society and the MNHRC is low, with the current members backgrounds that include serving the former military dictatorship, a major reason. We believe that it is time to invigorate the commission with fresh motivation and energy with members who have deep understanding and commitment to human rights in Myanmar.<\/p>\n In order to build this confidence of the MNHRC as an ally of the people, the selection of new members must also go hand-in-hand with reforms to the MNHRC Law so as to improve the selection process. The current composition of the Selection Board consists of a) Chief Justice of the Union, b) Union Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, c) Union Minister, Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, d) Attorney\u2010General of the Union, e) a representative from the Bar Council, f) two representatives from the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, g) a representative from the Myanmar Women\u2019s Affairs Federation and h) two representatives from registered Non\u2010Governmental Organizations. We believe that the composition of the Selection Board does offer guarantees of independence from either the Government or the military, and does not include adequate civil society representation. The presence of acting military personnel in the form of the Minister of Home Affairs on the Selection Board is particularly problematic as the military are the main perpetrators of human rights violations. Another major issue is the stipulation that representatives must come from registered <\/em>NGOs, which is a problem in Myanmar where many rights-based civil society organizations are not registered due to restrictive legislation for independent rights-based organizations, and thus limits the participation of diverse civil society.<\/p>\n While acknowledging the flaws in the Selection Board\u2019s composition, a transparent selection process in which the public can engage and critique the criteria for selection and screen potential candidate is still possible. International standards on selection processes of national human rights institutions require \u201ca clear, transparent, merit-based and participatory selection and appointment process.\u201d[2]<\/a> In order to do this, vacancies must be widely publicized, candidates must come from a wide range of sectors of society, the application, screening, selection and appointment process must include consultation and participation of the public and civil society, the applicants must be assessed \u201con the basis of pre-determined, objective and publicly available criteria,\u201d and applicants must be chosen based on their individual capacity as oppose to the organization or institution they represent. We believe that the above components are possible in the selection process of new MNHRC commissioners and strongly urge the Selection Board to use this opportunity to reinvigorate the commission, and start to build trust with the public that the MNHRC can fulfil its mandate with qualified and progressive members committed to the protection of human rights.<\/p>\n Member organizations of CSO Working Group on MNHRC Reform<\/p>\n Action Committee for Democracy Development \u2013 ACDD<\/p>\n Assistance Association for Political Prisoners \u2013 AAPP<\/p>\n Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters \u2013 HRDP<\/p>\n Athan \u2013 Freedom of Expression Activist Organization<\/p>\n Burma Monitor (Research and Monitoring) \u2013 BM<\/p>\n Equality Myanmar \u2013 EQMM<\/p>\n Future Light Center \u2013 FLC<\/p>\n Genuine People\u2019s Servants \u2013 GPS<\/p>\n Generation Wave \u2013 GW<\/p>\n Human Rights Education Network \u2013 HREN<\/p>\n Human Rights Foundation of Monland \u2013 HURFOM<\/p>\n Kachin Women\u2019s Association Thailand \u2013 KWAT<\/p>\n Karen Human Rights Group \u2013 KHRG<\/p>\n Karenni Human Rights Group \u2013 KnHRG<\/p>\n Loka Ahlinn (Social Development Network)<\/p>\n Metta Campaign \u2013 Mandalay<\/p>\n Myanmar People\u2019s Alliance (Shan State)<\/p>\n Pa-O Youth Organization \u2013 PYO<\/p>\n Progressive Voice \u2013 PV<\/p>\n Smile Education and Development Foundation \u2013 Smile<\/p>\n Synergy (Social Harmony Organization)<\/p>\n Ta\u2019ang Women\u2019s Organization \u2013 TWO<\/p>\n The Seagull<\/p>\n Yangon Watch<\/p>\n For media inquries:<\/p>\n Aung Myo Min, Equality Myanmar, myominburma@gmail.com, 09-448015306<\/p>\n Aung Khaing Min, Progressive Voice, akm@progressive-voice.org, 09-261009995<\/p>\n Aung Zaw Oo, Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters, 2012hrdpnetworks@gmail.com, 09-421039493<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: <\/em><\/p>\n The CSO Working Group on MNHRC Reform was formed in 2019 and advocates for reform of the MNHRC so it is an effective, independent, and transparent national human rights institution that promotes and protects the rights of all people of Myanmar in line with the Paris Principles.<\/em><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> See \u2018Burma: All Shook Up.\u2019 Burma\/Myanmar Chapter of the 2018 ANNI Report. Burma Partnership, Equality Myanmar, and Smile Education and Development Foundation. <\/em>18 September 2015. \u00a0<\/em>http:\/\/www.burmapartnership.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/1-Burma-FINAL-04-August-2015.pdf<\/a> \u00a0<\/em>and Wai Mar Tun, Ye Tike, and Tin Aung Khine. \u2018Myanmar Human Rights Commission backs Army\u2019s Story of Kyauktan Massacre.\u2019 Radio Free Asia. <\/em>13 June 2019. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/myanmar\/story-06132019170639.html<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/sup><\/a> See the \u2018General Observations of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation.\u2019 Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions. <\/em>2018. https:\/\/nhri.ohchr.org\/EN\/AboutUs\/GANHRIAccreditation\/General%20Observations%201\/Forms\/Default%20View.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 25 July 2019 We, the 24 organizations of the CSO Working Group on MNHRC Reform, call on the Selection Board to engage in a public, transparent and inclusive selection process to determine the next commissioners of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission\u2019s (MNHRC) when the current commissioners\u2019 terms end in September 2019. Given Myanmar\u2019s myriad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4012,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions\/4012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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