Interview with the NUG Deputy Minister for Human Rights
21 May 2021
National Unity Government (NUG) on May 3 has appointed Ba Ham Htan from Kayah (Karenni) State as the Deputy Minister for Human Rights. We have asked about his responsible role in the NUG government.
MPM : Why did you accept the offer for the position of deputy minister for human rights?
BHH : I believe the National Unity Government has formed the Ministry of Human Rights because this ministry is urgently required for our country’s current situations. In our country, Myanmar, there are a lot of serious cases rather than just the violation of human rights because the military council keeps committing the cruel crimes. In other countries, human rights departments are just as the commission level. Commission is just a community-based organization, separated from government system. Since NUG however formed the human rights institution as the Ministry level, it has the autonomy to implement the policies and plans itself. This is one of the good points. But a lot of challenges still remained. Compared to other countries, the government is usually pushed by CSOs to implement or take the effective actions with respect to human rights violations. However, our Ministry has now possessed more authorities and chances to implement its own actions. I hope that the violations of human rights in Myanmar, including the serious crimes committed by the brutal military council upon the public, will be solved through the help or cooperation of the international. I thus accepted this offer.
MPM : How do you think how serious the military council’s violence upon Myanmar people after February coup?
BHH : The violence of the military council is seriously too bad. Nearly 800 people were killed during three months, according to AAPP statement. From human rights perspective, inhumane killing the hundreds of people can be intolerable. There are more than 300 political activists detained in prison. The international community cannot accept this situation as well. We are now building the strategic mechanism to take the effective action. We have built the data collection mechanism. We have planned to bring the gathered evidences to ICJ in order to impose international actions in practice.
MPM : What parts are you taking responsibility in the Ministry of Human Rights? How effective are they?
BHH : The Ministry of Human Rights is the very first department in Myanmar. This can be said as a newly founded ministry. There is no human rights ministry in other countries but they have just the human rights commission or something like that. So, we have a lot of things to do. The motto of our ministry is “Equity, Peace and Justice.” Our vision is to make sure the people living in the Federal Union of Myanmar for the enjoyment of basic human rights without discrimination in accordance with international human rights standards. Our mission is to respect the standards of human rights, to protect and promote the rights in order to ensure that everyone in the country enjoys their full rights and we will work together with international community in order to implement our mission and to take effective actions over human rights violations through specific records or evidences. We, the Ministry of Human Rights, will cooperate with civil society organizations and must respect the public participation in order to produce effective implementation. Thus, we will hear the voices of the victims and provide the remedy for the aggrieved parties. Aiming to produce the effective implementation, we are planning to work with professionals, human rights experts, the human rights data collection organizations or human rights promoters.
MPM : How will you provide the human rights awareness for the public?
BHH : U Aung Myo Min, the Union Minister for Human Rights, has been working for about 30 years in human rights fields as a human rights promoter and has belonged a great network in this area. This is the good point for our institution. We have already had the network in order to reach the awareness program to the local people. We also are trying now. We have planned in order to provide human rights basic classes or seminars aiming to promote the understanding of human rights.
MPM : What is your comment upon the brutal violence of the military council upon citizens?
BHH : Nowadays the military council has been abusing upon a lot of women in Myanmar. Such abuses are not just the violations of women’s rights but their actions have reached the level of a crime. Rather than just sending the information, in order to file the cases with specific facts, our Ministry therefore has created the Website but it has not been made public yet. Later we will let them know who can file the complaint and how. We will investigate the filing cases upon the additional data gathered and make sure how to provide remedy for each victim. The data will be collected systematically in order to send before the international trial. After the revolution, the military, the police forces and the public must respect, protect and promote the human rights. It is not just a matter of talking. Everyone has the responsibility to protect human rights. Not only the military and polices but also each and every body must respect, protect and promote the human rights. For instance, if the normal person gets known about domestic abuse even within his or her own family, it can be said that the level of understanding human rights has increased. Understanding first can help us a lot in our implementation. We are trying to take actions effectively upon the perpetrators in accordance with law.
MPM : Do you want to add something more?
BHH : The people across the country are fighting together the political turmoil following the military coup. I believe this revolution will succeed. I hope we will win definitely. The important thing we need to do is not to give up. I want to encourage the CDM workers not to give up. The CRPH-formed National Unity Government is taking the leading role in the current politics of Myanmar and I want to encourage everyone to fight under the instruction of NUG and every ethnic organization in different states to fight together until the end of military dictatorship. I want you know that our National Unity Government is doing the best steps to get the official recognition of the international community. The public needs to fight constantly. The general strike should be ongoing. If we have strong support domestically, we will certainly have the international attention and assistance.
Sent by
Maw Oo Myar (Kantarawaddy Times)
