BURMA/MYANMAR: International community must assist in the re-engineering of justice institutions

An Oral Statement to the 31st Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) on Myanmar’s UPR Outcomes. Due to time constraints in Council proceedings, the following Oral Statement could not be presented at the Council. The Statement is now being shared to inform the wider audience in Myanmar and across the world about the ALRC’s campaign on institutional transformation in Myanmar. Mr. President. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) notes that the adoption of UPR Outcomes on Myanmar coincides with the long-cherished struggles for democracy in Myanmar coming to fruition. The flowering of democracy in Myanmar is proof that people’s desire for democracy […]

MYANMAR: A state that requires the foundations for justice institutions to be built to achieve a stable change

The Asian Legal Resource Centre congratulates the people of Myanmar for successfully and peacefully electing a democratic government through national elections held in November 2015. The country and its people are, however, for all practical purposes still under the influence of militarisation that has gripped the country since 1959. For instance, the people of Myanmar and their institutions do not have a memory of independent justice institutions. Concepts like presumption of innocence, right to silence, and independent adjudication of disputes have never been given a chance to take root in the country. Instead what is rooted is the dependence upon the patronage of the powerful, a character that is deeply […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Bar councils exhorted to support Burmese lawyers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-004-2011 A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BURMA/ MYANMAR: Bar councils exhorted to support Burmese lawyers (Hong Kong, December 23, 2011) The Asian Legal Resource Centre on Friday issued an appeal to bar councils worldwide to support lawyers in Burma who have had their licences revoked for political reasons. In a special appeal to the International Bar Association, International Council of Jurists and bar councils around the world, the director of the Hong Kong-based regional research and advocacy group asked that the professional bodies write to urge the Supreme Court in Burma to review the circumstances under which 32 lawyers lost their […]

MYANMAR: Appeal to review cases of 32 lawyers disbarred for political reasons

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-OLT-009-2011 December 22, 2011 An Open Letter to the Chief Justice of Myanmar (Burma) U Tun Tun Oo Chief Justice Office of the Supreme Court Office No. 24 Naypyitaw MYANMAR Tel: + 95 67 404 080/ 071/ 078/ 067 or + 95 1 372 145 Fax: + 95 67 404 059 Dear Chief Justice MYANMAR: Appeal to review cases of 32 lawyers disbarred for political reasons The Asian Legal Resource Centre is writing to you further to a letter submitted to the president dated 4 November 2011 by 16 lawyers who were disbarred because of alleged political crimes or politically related violations of their codes of practice. […]

BURMA/ MYANMAR: ALRC endorses call on rule of law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-002-2011 A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BURMA/ MYANMAR: ALRC endorses call on rule of law (Hong Kong, April 29, 2011) The Asian Legal Resource Centre has strongly endorsed the contents of a letter by the National League for Democracy to Burma’s president calling for action on the rule of law. In a statement released on Monday, the NLD said that its deputy chairperson, U Tin Oo, had sent a letter to the new president, U Thein Sein, on April 5 in which he said that since the sitting of a new parliament in January up to now there had been no […]

BURMA/ MYANMAR: Regional group urges U.N. experts on torture case

BURMA/ MYANMAR: Regional group urges U.N. experts on torture case FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-001-2011 A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BURMA: Regional group urges U.N. experts on torture case (Hong Kong, January 5, 2010) The Asian Legal Resource Centre has urged a group of United Nations human rights specialists “to operate to their fullest possible capacity” in the interests of a young man being tried in Burma’s central prison, who has alleged that he was severely tortured to confess to a crime that he did not commit. In a letter sent yesterday, January 4, the Hong Kong-based regional rights group reminded a number of U.N. […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Dossier of torture cases submitted to U.N. experts

BURMA/MYANMAR: Dossier of torture cases submitted to U.N. experts FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-009-2010 A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BURMA/MYANMAR: Dossier of torture cases submitted to U.N. experts (Hong Kong, August 27, 2010) The Asian Legal Resource Centre on Wednesday submitted a special dossier to a group of United Nations human rights experts on recent cases of extreme, prolonged torture by police officers in Burma. The 66-page dossier, entitled “Recent complaints of extreme torture and arbitrary detention in Myanmar (Burma)”, details the cases of Phyo Wai Aung, Nyi Nyi Htun and Than Myint Aung at the hands of special units attached to the Rangoon Divisional […]