Myanmar
The Institute has worked in Myanmar since 2013. We are currently engaged in two important areas of development in Myanmar, human rights and business, and human rights education.
Statement from the Danish Institute for Human Rights, August 2022
Directors of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business can confirm that the Director, Vicky Bowman was arrested, along with husband Htein Lin, in Yangon on August 24, 2022. The Directors call for their immediate release. We are working to try to secure this. We will not be providing any further comment for the time being.
Notes for editors: The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business is an initiative to encourage responsible business activities throughout Myanmar. The Centre is a joint initiative of the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. Vicky Bowman is the founding Director of MCRB, which was established in 2013.
What we do
Promoting human rights education
From 2016 to January 2021 the Institute was implementing the ‘Denmark-Myanmar Programme on Rule of Law and Human Rights’ of the Embassy of Denmark in Myanmar in joint venture with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). A key focus of the Programme has been to establish human rights education within two law departments at Dagon and East Yangon universities. This has included the successful introduction of international human rights law and human rights education principles into legal education, new teaching methodologies fostering critical thinking, and improving academic research capacity on human rights and the rule of law in Myanmar.
Ensuring respect for human rights and business
In 2013, when Myanmar was starting a political transition toward democracy and most economic sanctions against the country were being lifted, the Danish Institute for Human Rights founded the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) in collaboration with the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB). Since then, MCRB has established itself as an authoritative centre of expertise in Myanmar with regard to the wider field of responsible business, working across a range of commercial sectors, government and civil society. Read more.
Working amid a human rights crisis
Working in challenging environments around the globe, the Institute is continuously assessing the impact we have on promoting human rights through our partnerships. We recognise that human rights are being severely violated in Myanmar, and we are deeply concerned by the situation following the military coup. We stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar including the universities, lawyers and civil society organisations that are promoting and protecting human rights in the country, and we remain committed to work alongside partners in order to contribute to a long-term process of promoting and protecting human rights in Myanmar.
Read more about previous projects in Myanmar here.
UN recommendations
The United Nations monitors the human rights situation in all countries and experts and member states give recommendations to individual governments. Read the UN recommendations to Myanmar here.