Publications

Many practices within Myanmar’s criminal justice system deprive the accused of their fair trial rights. Even where domestic law guarantees the protection of these rights, entrenched practices deprive people of just outcomes, undermine trust in the system and perpetuate and reinforce negative public perceptions about all justice actors.

Justice Base and MyJustice are working to counteract such practices by developing and empowering communities of legal practitioners who, through peer discussion and debate, identify key challenges faced by defence lawyers when attempting to protect their clients’ rights and brainstorm strategies lawyers can use to better respond to rights violations and ensure rights are protected.

This Legal Practice Brief reflects the ideas and contributions of the communities of lawyers in Yangon Region, Mon State, Mandalay Region, Shan State, and Bago Region. We hope that legal practitioners across Myanmar feel empowered by these briefs to strengthen their own practice, including by making it more rights protective.

This manual is intended to be a practical learning aid and helpful reference guide for community-based paralegals and organizations running community-based paralegal programs.

It should be helpful to paralegal program management staff that supervise and support paralegal services, as well as to those who are interested in learning more about the operations of such programs. Moreover, this manual aims to contribute to developing mechanisms and materials to support sustainable community-based paralegal programs and provide support for a better understanding of the model.

This manual has been prepared as a hands-on document for community-based paralegals to guide them with basic messages about paralegalism, tackling justice issues, and the delivery of quality services. It provides a framework to ensure that community-based paralegal services can be provided in an efficient and quality-assured manner.

Land disputes are often a political and social minefield. When it comes to land rights, even the smallest disagreement can raise tensions for farmers, families, communities, governments and ethnic armed organisations. Such disagreements can escalate into conflicts and fuel civil wars. It is therefore vital to find practical ways of addressing issues at the earliest possible stage. 

There are, however, many ways to solve a dispute, some more effective than others. For example, an authority can make a top-down decision based exclusively on available documents (which may not be correct or fair) without any consultation. It may simply impose a solution regardless of the wishes and legal rights of the people involved. Unfortunately, this approach is all too common. Moreover, laws do not always take into account alternative ways of solving conflicts.

In Myanmar, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has worked with village leaders, local authorities and ethnic armed organisations to adopt a “middle way”, in order to address some of the most common land disputes. We have used a process of mediation, analysing the conflicts, interviewing the parties, and proposing options that fit people’s interests rather than their positions. This has resulted in agreements that have the potential to last over time and make everyone’s lives easier.

Our report, A Feasibility Assessment on the Introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution/Collaborative Dispute Resolution to Resolve Land Disputes in Myanmar, has been written in collaboration with Chris Moore from CDR Associates. It contains a detailed analysis of land dispute resolution in Myanmar and suggests ways to improve access to justice by using this much needed “middle way”. 

Land disputes are often a political and social minefield. When it comes to land rights, even the smallest disagreement can raise tensions for farmers, families, communities, governments and ethnic armed organisations. Such disagreements can escalate into conflicts and fuel civil wars. It is therefore vital to find practical ways of addressing issues at the earliest possible stage.

 There are, however, many ways to solve a dispute, some more effective than others. For example, an authority can make a top-down decision based exclusively on available documents (which may not be correct or fair) without any consultation. It may simply impose a solution regardless of the wishes and legal rights of the people involved. Unfortunately, this approach is all too common. Moreover, laws do not always take into account alternative ways of solving conflicts.

In Myanmar, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has worked with village leaders, local authorities and ethnic armed organisations to adopt a “middle way”, in order to address some of the most common land disputes. We have used a process of mediation, analysing the conflicts, interviewing the parties, and proposing options that fit people’s interests rather than their positions. This has resulted in agreements that have the potential to last over time and make everyone’s lives easier.

Our report, A Feasibility Assessment on the Introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution/Collaborative Dispute Resolution to Resolve Land Disputes in Myanmar, has been written in collaboration with Chris Moore from CDR Associates. It contains a detailed analysis of land dispute resolution in Myanmar and suggests ways to improve access to justice by using this much needed “middle way”. 

On September 11, 2018 parliament passed an amendment to the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin (VFV) Land Management Law. This law has been criticized by many groups ranging from civil society groups to mining companies. The primary concern is that it will cause further insecurity for farmers and ethnic communities. Most of the lands classified as VFV are in ethnic rural areas and up to 10 million people live or rely on this land for their livelihood.

Further information is available here.