GJC & Leitner’s Myanmar Joint Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review Twenty-Third Session of the UPR Working Group of the Human Rights Council 2-13 November 2015
Analytical Background
The Government of Myanmar (the “Government”) is obligated in its second cycle Universal Periodic Review (“UPR”) to provide detailed information on how it has implemented recommendations on human rights protections made during its first cycle UPR in 2011, as well on developments in human rights in Myanmar since 2011. In the context of women’s rights, the Government’s progress has been dismal on both fronts.
At the outset, it must be stressed that women’s perspectives were largely absent from the 2011 UPR. Out of a total of 197 recommendations made to the Government during the 2011 UPR, only nine—a mere 4.6%—made any direct reference to the rights of women. Moreover, of these nine recommendations, only seven were accepted by the Government; accepted recommendations related primarily to eradicating all forms of violence against women and bringing its perpetrators to justice, as well as to strengthening domestic laws to ensure gender equality. As explained in more detail in this submission, the Government has failed to implement any of these seven recommendations.