DIHR and MCRB conduct business and human rights training for the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission

The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), Denmark's National Human Rights Commission and a founder of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), recently conducted a three day training session on business and human rights for the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, from 7-9 October, in Yangon.

Twenty three participants from the MNHRC were introduced to the three pillars of the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights - the Government's duty to protect, business's responsibility to respect human rights, and the need for both stakeholders to provide effect remedy to the victims of human rights abuses by business. They discussed the role of a National Human Rights Institution in relation to business and human rights. 

Dr Daw Than Nwe, one of the eleven members of the Commission, and with responsibility for the business/human rights portfolio, commented:  “The training session has enabled our staff to understand how our mandate applies to the business sector, and what the main international standards are. We hope to use what we have learned to draw up an action plan on business and human rights for the Commission”.

The workshop focused in particular on labour issues, the impact of extractive industries on human rights and on land, all of particular relevance in Myanmar. 'We heard from participants that half of the complaints the Commission  receives relate to land disputes, often involving both private and public actors. We hope that these training programme can support the Commission to step up its efforts to work systematically and strategically with other actors, and help them use international standards as a reference point”, said Elin Wrzoncki of  DIHR.

This project was part of DIHR's blended learning programme for National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), such as the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, to assist them in understanding and operationalising their mandate to work on business and human rights.  The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) was set up in 2011 by Presidential decree, at the start of Myanmar's transition. It was established by law in 2014.

Read also

• Business Consultation on National Land Law Reform
• MCRB Expresses Concern About the Impact on Responsible Investment of the Amendments to the Virgin, Vacant and Fallow Lands Law
• MCRB submits comments to Parliament on the draft Land Acquisition Act
• Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) of Land, Fisheries and Forests
• Consultation to update MCRB’s Land Rights and Business in Myanmar Briefing Paper

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