Myanmar: Why law reform is urgent and possible (UN statement)

Myanmar: Why law reform is urgent and possible (UN statement)

The ICJ today urged law reforms to address discrimination against minorities in Myanmar, during an interactive dialogue with the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights on her report on Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The statement read as follows:

“The ICJ welcomes the report of the High Commissioner,[1] delivered against the background of continuing ethnic armed conflict in Myanmar.

With over 50 years’ experience monitoring and documenting Myanmar’s human rights situation, the ICJ concurs with the High Commissioner’s conclusions and recommendations.

While the root causes of violations and abuses against the Rohingya and other persecuted minorities in Myanmar may be complex, as the Fact-Finding Mission already reported to the Council in September 2018, the steps required to address them are by now “well known”.[2]

One essential step is comprehensive legal and justice sector reform within the country.

In a briefing paper last year, the ICJ recommended three immediately achievable, concrete areas of law reform available to the Government: 1) legislative reform, including most urgently of the 1982 Citizenship Law; 2) Constitutional reform, to protect the right of citizens to full political participation; and 3) interim measures to address discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity.

At the same time, it is imperative the international community continues to support the various international accountability efforts underway, including the work of the International Criminal Court and Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

The ICJ would like to ask: what role do you see for States and civil society in relation to monitoring and implementation of your recommendations, particularly with respect to law and justice sector reform?”

[1] UN Doc A/HRC/43/18

[2] UN Doc A/HRC/39/64 (12 September 2018), para 102.

ICJ convenes panel discussion on citizenship and human rights in Myanmar

ICJ convenes panel discussion on citizenship and human rights in Myanmar

The ICJ convened a half-day panel discussion today in Yangon, Myanmar, to discuss national laws governing citizenship, and outline how, throughout the country, they have a discriminatory impact on people’s enjoyment of their human rights.

The event also provided the opportunity to introduce the ICJ’s new legal briefing Citizenship and Human Rights in Myanmar: Why Law Reform is Urgent and Possible

ICJ legal researcher Ja Seng Ing and legal adviser Sean Bain kicked off the event by noting that Myanmar’s legal framework for citizenship – enacted by unelected military governments – fuels widespread discrimination against members of ethnic minority groups throughout the country.

Bain highlighted the incompatibility of the domestic legal framework governing citizenship in Myanmar with core rule of law principles and with the State’s obligations under international human rights law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

He presented the ICJ’s practical recommendations for law reform, outlined in the ICJ’s new legal briefing, including with respect to the 1982 Citizenship Law and the 2008 Constitution, and to the Child Rights Bill currently under consideration by Myanmar’s national parliament.

Senior Advocate U Ohn Maung, a lawyer with decades of experience supporting access for members of minority groups to the official documentation often necessary to obtain even basic services, emphasized that citizenship in Myanmar should be a more inclusive concept, reflective of its pluralistic, multi-ethnic demography.

Daw Zarchi Oo and Daw Su Chit shared the findings of independent civil society research.

They highlighted various groups including: migrants and migrant workers; individuals belonging to sexual and/or gender minorities; single mothers; the children of fathers who are foreign nationals or who are estranged from their fathers; and people living with disabilities, who are all adversely impacted by current legal arrangements for citizenship and by their discriminatory implementation.

Daw Zarchi Oo also spoke about her own past experience of being stateless, and Daw Su Chit elaborated on her work with civil society and others to develop a gendered analysis of the impact of discriminatory citizenship laws in Myanmar.

Around 60 participants, including from domestic civil society, the legal community, international non-government organizations, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, the diplomatic community and others joined this event, and participated in the discussions.

The 1982 Citizenship Law embedded the current narrow definition of citizenship, which generally links its acquisition to membership of a prescribed “national race.”

Many of the 2008 Constitution’s provisions on “fundamental rights” are restricted to citizens only, with a result being that the State generally does not recognize the human rights of persons who do not qualify as citizens under domestic law, or are otherwise excluded due to the laws’ discriminatory implementation.

The intentionally discriminatory character of the 1982 Law, and its discriminatory implementation, largely explains why many long-term residents of Myanmar lack a legal identity (more than 25 percent of persons enumerated in the 2014 Census).

The situation of Rohingya people, who the State generally does not recognize as citizens, is the most egregious example of the human rights violations associated with this system.

This event is part of the ICJ’s broader support to promote and protect human rights in Myanmar through research, analysis, advocacy and creating spaces for discussion.

See also:

ICJ convenes workshop on reforming 1982 Citizenship law

Breaking Down Barriers: Towards inclusive access to justice (UN event)

Breaking Down Barriers: Towards inclusive access to justice (UN event)

This side event to the UN Human Rights Council session addresses equal and effective access to justice for indigenous people, people living with a disability and people from ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities.

Monday 25 June | 16:30-18:00 | Room XXVII, Palais des Nations

Sustainable Development Goal 16 calls for the realisation of peaceful and inclusive societies in which all individuals have equal access to justice.

Achieving access to justice, which includes due process and equality before the law, is a complex challenge. It demands not only examining the letter of the laws that are in force, but also identifying and overcoming systemic and practical barriers that preclude equal access to justice.

The International Commission of Jurists, Minority Rights Group International, the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, the Permanent Mission of Austria to the UN and the Permanent Mission of Australia to the UN invite you to attend a panel discussion in the margins of the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council that will reflect on the multiple and intersecting barriers still experienced by those who are frequently among the most marginalised and at risk in society more generally: Indigenous people, people living with a disability and people from ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities.

The discussion will also explore the responses (systematic, legislative, practical, international or otherwise) that can include and legally empower such persons when they come into contact with the legal system as a means to promote their equal access to justice.

Speakers:

Mr Matthew Pollard, Senior Legal Advisor, UN Representative, International Commission of Jurists (Moderator) 

Dr June Oscar AO, Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission

Mr Glenn Payot, UN Representative, Minority Rights Group International

Ms Victoria Lee, Programme Manager, Human Rights and Disability Team, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

For more information contact un(a)icj.org

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