Joint Statement: SEANF Must Deny the Junta-controlled Myanmar Commission the 2027 Chairship to Protect Regional Credibility
[BANGKOK, 7 August 2026] We, the undersigned 146 Myanmar, regional, and international civil society organizations, express deep alarm and concern regarding reports that the junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) has announced its intention to assume the Chairship of the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum (SEANF) in 2027, following discussions during the second Technical Working Group Meeting of SEANF held in Malaysia from 21 to 23 July 2026.
We urge SEANF members to take a principled stand and prevent the MNHRC from assuming any leadership position within SEANF and to urgently review its continued membership in the Forum. Allowing the MNHRC to chair SEANF would not only seriously undermine the credibility, legitimacy, and integrity of a regional human rights mechanism established to advance human rights protection in Southeast Asia, but would embolden the MNHRC to further provide the criminal military junta with a shield from international accountability.
SEANF’s credibility must be grounded in international human rights standards
SEANF’s credibility as a regional network of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) depends on its commitment to the standards it seeks to promote. As a mechanism established to strengthen human rights protection in Southeast Asia, SEANF must ensure that its membership and leadership are consistent with the principles of independence, pluralism, and effectiveness enshrined in the UN Paris Principles.
Providing leadership roles to institutions that no longer meet these standards risks undermining confidence in SEANF among civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and communities affected by human rights violations.
MNHRC’s failure to comply with the Paris Principles
MNHRC’s continued membership and its boldness of seeking to assume the SEANF Chairship raise serious concerns regarding the Forum’s commitment to international minimum NHRI standards.
Following a review by the GANHRI Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA), MNHRC’s “B” status accreditation was removed in December 2024 due to its failure to comply with the UN Paris Principles. The SCA raised serious concerns regarding MNHRC’s independence, its failure to effectively fulfil its mandate following the military’s 2021 illegal coup attempt, inadequate engagement with civil society and the international human rights system, and concerns regarding its appointment process and being complicit in the military junta’s human rights violations and atrocity crimes.
Following the removal of its accreditation, MNHRC’s membership in GANHRI was formally removed in March 2025, and the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) subsequently removed MNHRC from its membership in May 2025.
These decisions clearly demonstrate that MNHRC no longer meets the standards expected of an independent and effective NHRI. Civil society organizations have consistently called upon SEANF to take similar action and remove MNHRC from its network in order to uphold the integrity of regional NHRI mechanisms and to avoid the risk of being complicit in the MNHRC’s protection of the perpetrators.
MNHRC has failed to protect human rights in Myanmar
Since the 2021 illegal military coup attempt, MNHRC has failed to act as an independent institution capable of protecting victims and holding perpetrators accountable for widespread and systematic human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military.
Rather than independently investigating and addressing violations, MNHRC has failed to challenge the actions of the military junta or provide effective protection or access to justice to victims of serious violations, including arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence, deaths in custody, enforced disappearances, massacres and airstrikes and ground attacks against civilians, including children.
Through its actions and omissions, MNHRC has contributed to efforts by the military junta to project an appearance of human rights oversight while failing to provide any accountability and protection for victims and survivors.
Increased public engagements cannot restore lost legitimacy
The undersigned organizations are further concerned that MNHRC has recently increased its public engagements and international outreach despite losing recognition within the international NHRI system.
Its reported engagements–including a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on 17 July 2026 and with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation on 10 July–appear designed to increase its international visibility in the military junta’s post-sham-election rebrand in civilian disguise. However, public engagements cannot substitute for genuine independence, accountability, and compliance with the Paris Principles.
The Russian Commissioner for Human Rights has also faced serious scrutiny within the international NHRI community, including the removal of its accreditation following GANHRI-SCA findings concerning its compliance with the Paris Principles and its response to serious human rights violations in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
SEANF members must ensure none of their engagements are used to normalize MNHRC’s role within regional and international human rights spaces without addressing the fundamental concerns that led to the removal of its accreditation and memberships.
SEANF must act to protect its integrity
Allowing MNHRC to assume the SEANF Chairship would cause a public outcry and severely damage the credibility and public trust required for the Forum to function effectively. Civil society organizations and human rights defenders cannot meaningfully engage with a regional mechanism that provides leadership to an institution acting as a smokescreen for a criminal military junta. This junta has been found by the international NHRI community to be non-compliant with the Paris Principles and has failed to protect the human rights of Myanmar’s peoples.
We therefore call upon SEANF members to prevent MNHRC from assuming the Chairship of SEANF in 2027 and to take immediate steps towards its formal removal from the Forum. SEANF must ensure that its membership and leadership positions are held only by institutions that demonstrate independence, credibility, and genuine commitment to human rights protection, while taking concrete measures to safeguard its integrity as a credible and effective regional platform for human rights cooperation and advancement.
For more information, please contact:
- The CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar); WG_NHRI@protonmail.com
- Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions Secretariat, FORUM-ASIA; anni@forum-asia.org
Signed by 146 civil society organizations, including one organization that has chosen not to disclose its name:
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