New Reports on Myanmar Law

There have been a number of new reports on Myanmar’s legal and political system.

A report on the legal profession was recently released by the International Commission of Jurists. The substantive aspect of the report can be seen as building on the broader assessment of the legal system by the International Bar Association in 2012

There has been a new report assessing legislative activity in Myanmar, released by International Crisis Group.

There have also been a range of reports by other organisations on more specific aspects of the legal system, such as a report on the right to peaceful assembly by Article 19, and a report on state and region governance by the Asia Foundation and MDRI.

Finally, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung has just published a journal edition on ‘Myanmar in Transition’, available online.

The impact of Covid-19 on research

Covid-19 is currently disrupting academic publishing in a number of ways.
There are disruptions to the global supply chain for the manufacture and distribution of printed journals. The following publishers have halted journal printing until further notice: Cambridge University Press (from 25 March 2020) Taylor & Francis (from 10 April)
Some journal editors or editing boards have suspended or delayed the review or publication process for academic journals.
On the other hand, some publishers are providing open access content for a limited period of time. See the following links from the UNSW library and the ANU library, or select publishers websites such as OUP. The University of California Press has opened free access to all its journals until the end of June 2020
Hart Publishing is currently offering free access for libraries to its online platform, Bloomsbury Collections, until the end of May. To enable access for your institution, email Hart atOnlineSalesUK@bloomsbury.com

The Austral…

Access to Justice and Administrative Law in Myanmar

Administrative law is an important part of access to justice because it can operate as a check and balance on government decision-making, and provide an avenue for individuals to seek review of government decisions.

In a report sponsored by USAID and TetraTech for their 'Promoting the Rule of Law in Myanmar' program, I emphasise the importance of administrative law in Myanmar in promoting good governance, accountability and checks on executive power.
The main avenue for judicial review of administrative action in Myanmar is the constitutional writs under the 2008 Constitution. Since 2011, a large number of applications for the constitutional writs have been brought to the Supreme Court. The Writ Procedure Law 2014 was introduced to clarify the Supreme Court procedure for handling writ cases. The constitutional writs are a new area of law and support needs to be provided to a range of legal actors in order to take hold of the potential opportunity this provides.
Efforts must als…

Professional Legal Education in Commercial and Corporate Law in Myanmar

Dr Melissa Crouch and Associate Professor Lisa Toohey of UNSW Law Faculty are undertaking a Professional Legal Education Project in Commercial and Corporate law in Myanmar (2016-2017), funded by the Asian Development Bank. Melissa Crouch is the Team leader and Legal Education and Myanmar Law expert. Lisa Toohey is the Legal Education and Commercial Law expert on the project. Emma Dunlop is the Legal Researcher and Project administrator.

The focus of the project is on improving legal education and skills integral to the transactional practice and adjudication of commercial law, at this critical time in Myanmar's transition to democracy. The project includes developing a training program for the practical legal training needs of private lawyers, government lawyers, prosecutors and judges in commercial and financial law.

In 2016, the first stage of the project has included meetings and focus group discussions with most of the major law firms - foreign and local - in Yangon. It has als…

Melissa Crouch

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