BURMA: Lawyers’ group appeals for “reactivation” of bar council
(Hong Kong, March 1, 2007) A lawyers’ group on Thursday made an appeal for the “reactivation” of the Bar Council and for reform of the judiciary in Burma.
The Thailand-based Burma Lawyer’s Council (BLC) said in a statement that corruption was destroying the prospects of any justice for people in Burma.
“When the judiciary itself is corrupt, taking legal action against public officials on charges of corruption is pointless,” the BLC said.
It urged the Bar Council to “speak out publicly in defense of lawyers who protect the rights of people legally” and “revitalize the spirit” so as to “motivate younger lawyers to defend justice”.
The full text of the statement follows.
Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), agreed that corruption is an enormous obstacle to the effective functioning of the courts in Burma, and added that it was made worse by incompetence and complicity.
“The negative effects of a corrupted, compromised and incompetent judiciary on a society are in some ways even greater than those of a corrupted, compromised and incompetent police force,” Fernando said.
“While ordinary people in Asia expect the police to be corrupt and violent, they still come to courts with a small hope for justice and redress,” he said.
“When they find judges and lawyers who are no different from the people who abused them in the first place, that is when society becomes really demoralised, like in Burma today,” Fernando noted.
“In that situation, it comes down to the determination of individual judges and lawyers to make a difference,” he added.
The Hong Kong-based regional rights organisation has described Burma as being subjected to the “un-rule of law” and has urged greater study of the effects of the country’s defective legal system on human rights and development there.
Also on Thursday it submitted documentation on the case of seven persons arbitrarily detained in Burma to a specialised UN working group.
The AHRC said that the seven had been illegally arrested and detained, charged under incorrect laws, and denied access to lawyers and many of the other minimum requirements for a fair trial.
In September, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, as the country is formally known, said that the “independence and impartiality of [its] judiciary have been hampered by sustained practices of impunity” and that the legal system “represents a major obstacle for securing the effective and meaningful exercise of fundamental freedoms by citizens”.
The AHRC 2006 report on Burma, ‘The myth of state stability and a system of injustice’, is available on line at: http://material.ahrchk.net/hrreport/2006/Burma2006.pdf
Appeal to Lawyers inside Burma for Reactivation of the Burma Bar Council and
Bar Associations and Reformation of the Burma Judiciary
1. In February 2007, a BLC representative attended a seminar on “The Role of Lawyers, the Bar and the Bench in Preventing and Combating Corruption within the Justice System” held in Bangkok, Thailand. The leading lawyers of 35 bar associations from around the world, including the International Bar Association, Law Asia, the Lawyers Council of Thailand, the American Bar Association, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and others participated in the seminar. The seminar made clear that lawyers and bar associations have a duty to combat corruption.
2. Corruption is rampant in the administrative mechanism of Burma. For instance, on
October 19, 2004, the military junta charged its prime minister, General Khin Nyunt, of corruption. In May 2005, approximately 250 customs officials were arrested for corruption. In May 2006, eight customs officers as well as 10 from Merchant Associations were arrested in Mu-se near the China-Burma border for corruption. The same happened to Brigadier Aung Kyi, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Social Welfare, and Brigadier Win Sein, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Labor, against whom action was taken in November 2006. These are just examples of a system rife with corruption at all levels. As a result of the corruption, government authorities retain the wealth of the country while the vast majority of the citizenry lives in poverty.
3. In most countries, the judiciary plays a critical role in promoting a clean government and facilitating good governance. But in Burma, the judiciary is just as corrupt as the administration. A number of judges as well as court officials regularly take bribes and rule in favor of those who can bribe them. When the judiciary itself is corrupt, taking legal action against public officials on charges of corruption is pointless. There is no better time than now for the lawyers to participate in the reformation of the judiciary and revitalize the role of the Bar Council and Bar Associations. Specifically, the BLC respectfully makes the following recommendations:
- The Bar Council and Associations should actively support lawyers who fight for justice. When appropriate, the Council and Associations should speak out publicly in defense of lawyers who protect the rights of people legally.
- The Bar Council and Bar Associations should insist on proactive participation by their members in bringing about reform of the judiciary and reduction of corruption. The Bar must initiate and facilitate changes on the Bench.
- To maintain its independence from the ruling military regime, the chair of the Bar Council must not be the Attorney General. In most countries, unlike in Burma, the chair of the Bar is elected by its members.
- The attorneys of Burma should revitalize the spirit of the Bar Council and Bar Associations that existed prior to 1988. At that time, elected bar leaders ran the Bar Council. While the Attorney General was the head of the Council, the position was merely a ceremonial one. The bar played a crucial role in initiating the 1988 Uprising and everyone respected the bar. Now, unfortunately, it is silent and has lost much of its strength and credibility. The BLC requests the leading lawyers in Burma to once again stimulate the Bar Council and motivate younger lawyers to defend justice.
Now, more than ever, the country of Burma needs to hear the voices of lawyers crying out against injustice and corruption. It is also the responsibility of lawyers to reinvigorate society from the legal point of view, reactivate the Bar Council and Bar Associations, and fight for the rule of law.
Burma Lawyers’ Council March 1, 2007
