Myanmar National Human Rights Commission

Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကော်မရှင်
Commission overview
Formed5 September 2011; 13 years ago (2011-09-05)
Preceding commission
  • Human Rights Committee
JurisdictionMyanmar (Burma)
HeadquartersNo. 27, Pyay Road, Hlaing Township, Yangon
Commission executives
  • U Hla Myint, Chairman
  • Nanda Hmun, Vice-Chairman
Websitemnhrc.org.mm

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (Burmese: မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အမျိုးသားလူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကော်မရှင်, abbreviated MNHRC) is the independent national human rights commission of Myanmar, consisting of 11 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 Myanmar, 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 former 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 with 15 commissioners.[6] The commission was reformed on 24 September 2014 under Notification No. 23/2014 because of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission Law with 11 commissioners. The commission's office is located in Hlaing Township, Yangon.[7] Its formation, which is not mandated by the constitution, 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]

  1. ^ "Burma sets up human rights commission". BBC. 6 September 2011. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  2. ^ "Myanmar National Human Rights Commission sends open letter to President". New Light of Myanmar. 12 November 2011. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  3. ^ Roughneen, Simon (17 February 2012). "Human Rights Commission in Burma Rules Out Inquiry". World Press. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  4. ^ Winn, Patrick (9 March 2012). "A Human Rights Commission's shaky rise in Burma/Myanmar". Global Post. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  5. ^ Yadana Htun (19 September 2011). "We won't be influenced by the govt". Myanmar Times. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  6. ^ "Formation of Myanmar National Human Rights Commission". New Light of Myanmar. 5 November 2011. Archived from the original on 22 May 2012. 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. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  8. ^ Soe Than Lynn (26 March 2012). "Hluttaw refuses human rights body budget". Myanmar Times. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  9. ^ Wild, Ko (28 January 2011). "Burma defends its human rights record at UN council". Mizzima. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.