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Focus on Burma 2008, PDF (654 KB)
Focus on Burma 2009, PDF (876 KB)
Focus on Burma 2010, PDF (584 KB)
Helping Burma Through India

This booklet was published in 2011 by the Czech NGO Burma Center Prague. It aims to highlight the problems faced by refugees from Burma who live in India, but also tries to point out ways they, as active members of civil society, can contribute to the transformation of Burma towards a genuine and participative democracy.

In this spirit of involving and empowering those who are most affected, we decided give much of the space in this publication to the voices of activists who themselves are
refugees. Topics covered in their articles include: Chin refugees,refugee women, health care, education, and Burmese media.

Independent Lawyers in Myanmar 2017

Published in 2017, by Burma Center Prague, Czech Republic, with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic within its Transition Promotion Program.

Executive Summary

Independent lawyers hold a key role in promoting and practicing the rule of law, particularly in Myanmar where numerous challenges remain. Many of them provide pro bono legal aid to the needy and offer their assistance in human rights cases. In their work, they often have to cope with obstacles including administrative hurdles, insufficient equipment, deficient qualifications or experience, or even intimidation by powerful opponents.

This report presents selected cases that the independent lawyers defended and concludes the activities of 4 years in Myanmar (2013 – 2017), during which Burma Center Prague (BCP) together with the CEELI Institute (CEELI) supported independent lawyers through training, workshops and networking with the media and members of parliament.

While independent lawyers contribute an important part to the transition of Myanmar towards a stable and genuine democracy and the respect of civil rights, the heritage of over four decades of military dictatorship still impairs their work today. Associations of independent lawyers were illegal for long time and professional networks tried to operate underneath the radar of the administration, lacking a clear structure and even avoiding committing themselves to membership.

The first years of our program efforts in Myanmar were therefore dedicated to empowering the Myanmar Lawyers’ Network (MLN), which was the first and main focal point of independent lawyers with a strong interest and experience in human rights cases – many of the actors have been victims themselves. While the political and legal situation opened up the possibility of consolidating this network as a registered entity, the project aimed to assess further needs and opportunities to empower independent lawyers in the regions of Myanmar.

Rather than adding further data to the already existent corpus of recent research about the rule of law in Myanmar, this report seeks to illustrate the current situation, the key role of independent lawyers and their requirements for doing future work by presenting several cases where their involvement is crucial to asserting the rights of those who otherwise would be left to their own devices.

Based on past project work, the report eventually tries to formulate some recommendations for future activities to support independent lawyers in Myanmar.

 

Information for this report was obtained through a variety of online publications, as well as individual interviews with Executive Committee members of the MLN and other lawyers.

Tourism Report, low image quality (2 MB)

There is an urgent need for a critical debate on mass tourism in Myanmar, particularly the viability and frailty of the Myanmar Responsible Tourism Policy that is soon to be framed by the Myanmar Tourism Master Plan. ‘One of the most fascinating aspects of travel in Myanmar is the opportunity to experience a corner of Asia that, in many ways, has changed little since British colonial times,’ says the Lonely Planet. It remains to be seen how this place of authenticity will be reshaped by mass tourism as a force of globalisation in the near future, and how the state of Myanmar will responsibly respond to the challenges brought about by mass tourism.

Tourism Report, original PDF (34 MB)

There is an urgent need for a critical debate on mass tourism in Myanmar, particularly the viability and frailty of the Myanmar Responsible Tourism Policy that is soon to be framed by the Myanmar Tourism Master Plan. ‘One of the most fascinating aspects of travel in Myanmar is the opportunity to experience a corner of Asia that, in many ways, has changed little since British colonial times,’ says the Lonely Planet. It remains to be seen how this place of authenticity will be reshaped by mass tourism as a force of globalisation in the near future, and how the state of Myanmar will responsibly respond to the challenges brought about by mass tourism.