Access to justice beyond the official state

Justice provision in Myanmar is characterised by legal pluralism. There are a wide range of justice providers, different co-existing legal systems, and varied justice perceptions. Despite this pluralism, a common pattern is that most citizens predominantly seek solutions to disputes and crimes within their own village or neighbourhood. Official courts are feared, distrusted, associated with high costs and are places that most people try to avoid. When people decide to report a dispute or crime, community-based dispute resolution (CBDR) with its focus on negotiating a mutual agreement is the preferred justice option. While this empirical reality is increasingly acknowledged, it is not officially recognised by the Myanmar government and very little international support has so far targeted this level of justice provision in Myanmar.

This report explores everyday justice provision and ordinary people’s perception of justice in southeast Myanmar, as well as makes recommendations for international NGO support to access to justice at the community level. It is written by DIIS senior researcher, Helene Kyed, for the International Rescue Committee with funding from the USAID. The research findings in the report primarily draw on the DIIS-coordinated research project, ‘Everyday Justice and Security in the Myanmar Transition’ (EverJust), which is done in partnership with Yangon University, the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation, and Aarhus University. This project has covered extensive ethnographic fieldwork between 2016 and 2018 in selected areas of Yangon, Karen and Mon States. This has also includes unique empirical research on the justice systems of two of the main ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, the Karen National Union (KNU) and the New Mon State Party (NMSP).

The report argues that any support to justice sector reform in Myanmar should include already existing community-based dispute resolution (CBRD) and take serious local perceptions of justice, rather than alone focus on the official judiciary and international rule of law principles. It is important to base international programming on inclusive dialogues about justice at the local level and invest in building trust and gaining context-specific knowledge. Drawing on in-depth empirical research is crucial to obtain these goals.

Specific recommendations to international NGOs

The report recommends that international NGO support to access to justice at the local level takes an outset in already existing CBDR forums, rather than trying to establish alternative or parallel institutions. Support should be firmly grounded in how disputes and crimes are already dealt with and understood in the target communities. A good starting point is to focus on what already works – on success stories - and then identify areas for improvement, based on participatory dialogues with local justice providers and ordinary citizens. Reliance on a standard set of externally defined concepts and intervention models should be avoided. Although legal awareness is needed, it is important to be realistic about what formal justice options can entail for ordinary citizens. Programming must be sensitive to the socio-cultural and religious beliefs that inform people’s justice preferences towards either not reporting cases at all or seeking localised solutions. There is a need to gradually increase the inclusion of vulnerable groups in CBDR forums, including women and minorities.