Myanmar National Human Rights Commission

Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကော်မရှင်
Commission overview
Formed September 5, 2011
Preceding commission Human Rights Committee
Jurisdiction Myanmar (Burma)
Headquarters No.27, Pyay Road, Hlaing Township, Yangon
Commission executives Win Mra, Chairman
Sitt Myaing, Vice Chairman
Website mnhrc.org.mm

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (Burmese: မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကော်မရှင်, abbreviated MNHRC) is Burma's (Myanmar) independent national human rights commission, consisting of 15 retired bureaucrats and academics.

Analysts have questioned the panel's will and ability to challenge the government,[1] but the commission has challenged the President's claims that there are no political prisoners in Burma, calling for all political prisoners' release and amnesty.[2] In February 2012, its chairman, Win Mra, ruled out the possibility of investigating human rights abuses in ethnic minority areas, calling it premature to investigate in conflict areas.[3][4]

According to NHRC's chairman Win Mra, the commission was formed under the Paris Principles, as an independent body, to investigate complaints of possible human rights violations.[5]

The commission was formed on 5 September 2011 under Notification No. 34/2011 by President Thein Sein.[6] The commission's offices are located in Hlaing Township, Yangon.[7] Its formation, which is not mandated by the Constitution of Burma, has been a source of controversy, especially when it requested a share of the national budget (K 547,208,000) for 2012 to 2013, as the NHRC is not a Union-level body.[8]

Its predecessor, a human rights committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs, was formed on 26 April 2000.[9]

Members

The 11-member body largely consists of civilians from academia (3 retired professors), foreign affairs (3 retired ambassadors), and civil servants.[6] Several of the body's members are from ethnic minority groups, including Chin, Karen, Kachin and Shan; its chairman, Win Mra, is an ethnic Rakhine.[5]

  1. Win Mra (Chairman)
  2. Sit Myaing (Vice-Chairman)
  3. Zaw Win
  4. Myint Kyi
  5. Yu lwin Aung
  6. Nyunt Swe
  7. Nyan Zaw
  8. Than Nwe
  9. Khin Maung Lay
  10. Daw Mya Mya
  11. Soe Phone Myint

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Burma sets up human rights commission". BBC. 6 September 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Myanmar National Human Rights Commission sends open letter to President". New Light of Myanmar. 12 November 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Roughneen, Simon (17 February 2012). "Human Rights Commission in Burma Rules Out Inquiry". World Press. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Winn, Patrick (9 March 2012). "A Human Rights Commission's shaky rise in Burma/Myanmar". Global Post. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Yadana Htun (19 September 2011). "We won’t be influenced by the govt". Myanmar Times. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Formation of Myanmar National Human Rights Commission". New Light of Myanmar. 5 November 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "BURMA: Religious elder sentenced to 20 years in jail for peaceful practice of faith". Asian Human Rights Commission. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  8. ↑ Soe Than Lynn (26 March 2012). "Hluttaw refuses human rights body budget". Myanmar Times. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  9. ↑ Ko Wild (28 January 2011). "Burma defends its human rights record at UN council". Mizzima. Retrieved 27 March 2012.