Myanmar News Now: Campaigns: NHRC Monitor

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Campaigns: NHRC Monitor

On 5 September 2011, Burma’s regime announced that it had established a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) charged with promoting and safeguarding the fundamental rights of citizens in accordance with the 2008 Constitution.

The establishment of Burma’s NHRC was a clear attempt at placating the international community and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, who had been calling for the establishment
of a UN-led Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into crimes against humanity and war crimes in the country.

However for many reasons, the NHRC cannot be considered as a possible internal mechanism that could carry out investigations into human rights violations, and therefore replace a CoI.

Win Mra, Chairman of the NHRC, clearly stated in an interview that the NHRC would not investigate human rights abuses in ethnic conflict areas. Moreover, the commission would not have the mandate to look into abuses committed before its establishment and therefore cannot replace a truth seeking mechanism, such as a Commission of Inquiry.

Above all, Burma’s NHRC is not an independent and effective mechanism.

In 1991, the previous Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, convened a conference of national human rights institutions (NHRI) to define common attributes that all new or existing NHRIs should possess. Because the meeting was held in Paris, the resulting standards came to be known as the “Paris Principles.”

The Paris Principles were then adopted by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 1993. These principles are minimum conditions that must be met for a NHRI to be considered independent and effective in protecting and promoting the rights of the people.

Despite what Win Mra claims, Burma’s NHRC is clearly in violation of the Paris Principles. No official information about the procedure, mandate, and responsibilities of the commission has been made accessible to the public and, in particular, victims of human rights violations. The entire process of establishing the NHRC has been everything but inclusive and transparent.

Moreover, the NHRC has no independence and autonomy from the government as President Thein Sein both established the commission and appointed its members, all of whom are “retired” civil servants who have a past history of defending the military regime’s record of human rights violations.

Therefore, the international community should call on the regime to take the necessary steps to make Burma’s NHRC a truly independent and effective mechanism.