Research and 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

MyJustice supported its CSO partners in strengthening their capacities to design and implement legal awareness and empowerment programmes. As part of this process, MyJustice and Point B partnered with 18 civil society organisations in Yangon and Mon State to co-create Legal Awareness Strategy Design Hand Book. This handbook is focused on community building – to strengthen rule of law and legal awareness in Myanmar. In many ways, this handbook is an artefact of the collective learning that took place as community partners began the journey of applying a human centred approach to designing effective and meaningful legal awareness activities, programs and services for the communities they serve. In this handbook, you will find very useful and impactful methods, tools, skills and mindsets to design your own legal awareness strategies and initiatives. You can be use it in many ways depending your own interest, needs and background, as activities within this handbook are highly adaptable, interactive and flexible.

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.

Imagine: you live in a wooden house with basic utilities and you depend on your nearby farmland for the livelihood of your family. Private companies, government officials and ethnic armed organisations are interested in your land, but you have no way to defend yourself.

In Myanmar, decades of civil war and abuses by the military and other actors have created an atmosphere of fear and mistrust in institutions. The recent bilateral ceasefire agreements between the ethnic armed organisations and the military have given you some hope, but there is still no peace agreement in place which sets a clear line between the violent past and a more promising future. Your own future livelihood may depend on the help of civil society organisations and the legal assistance they may provide. This is the reality of many people belonging to ethnic minorities such as the Mon and Karen people in South East Myanmar. 

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) works to assist the conflict-affected communities in Myanmar protecting their land. We've conducted a micro level analysis of the situation in Mon State, at the heart of the South East. To address land disputes, the report recommends strengthening information, counselling and legal assistance services and building capacities and institutions.

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”.