Equality Myanmar

Equality Myanmar – EQMM

Type

January 6, 2025

U Aung Myo Min, the Union Minister for Human Rights of the current National Unity Government – NUG, has established Human Rights Education Institute of Burma on July 17, 2000 for human rights educations, advocacy and research programs. This group is the original organization of Equality Myanmar (EQMM).

HREIB was established with four objectives, to produce human rights educators, continuously exchange and develop capacity, to effectively carry out awareness on a nationwide, to support and advocate the activists for strengthening human rights accountability/responsibility in the government and non-governmental organizations, and to promote human rights education effectively through the school curriculum and state-owned media.

For this, HREIB was operating with five departments, which were program, finance, development, operation, and project and advocacy, and Civil society organizations, advocates, and human rights activists in Myanmar were included.

For the human rights-related section, the learning cycle was expanded in the form of self-designing the curriculum in a learner-centered approach and appointing experts in the field as facilitators. On the other hand, as an educational program, it conducted human rights education issues using various methods such as the distribution of human rights education documentaries; conducting workshops; and publication of bulletins.

After the 2010 election, under the U Thein Sein government, more than 2,000 of the opposition forces, activists, and pro-democracy activists were removed from the blacklist in August 2012. U Aung Min, the Minister of the Presidential Office, met with Thailand-based opposition forces and activists and encouraged them to resettle in Burma. After that, when people who left in various ways since the 1988 People's Uprising, and people who received citizenship in other countries returned to Burma, U Aung Myo Min was also allowed to return to Burma.

After he returned, HREIB was renamed EQMM. The vision, mission, goals and objectives of EQMM were established based on human rights-based standards, as well as the target group and teaching methods were also subdivided.

While doing so, in 2014, EQMM collaborated with the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners(Burma) and Burma Parnership, and issued a statement of opinion on the government's policy on the re-entry and resettlement of exiled political forces and activists. President U Thein Sein's government offered to return to Myanmar, but EQMM stated that there were different responses and handling from the government to individuals who want to return, restricting entry without valid reasons; deportation, delays in re-applying for citizenship and restrictions on participating in politics after citizenship.

EQMM also participated in the National Human Rights Commission and the CSO Working Group on Myanmar National Human Rights Commission Reform. Also, as part of the awareness campaign, EQMM worked to change the public's positive view of the LGBTQ community and also campaigned for the legal amendment of Section 377 of the Penal Code, which is defined as inherently against homosexuality. In addition, EQMM participated in activities to change the laws enacted in the country to "disabled" instead of "handicapped".

Before the terrorist group seized power, EQMM conducted many lectures and trainings on human rights throughout the country, and participated in the legislative matters of the Hluttaw on a CSO basis. On February 1, 2021, when the terrorist group seized power, the online video platform of EQMM, "Three Duties of Hluttaw Representatives" was broadcast. In the subsequent people protests, EQMM participated as the group and as an individual. In addition, EQMM continuously broadcasted about the human rights issues, and the issues related to the war crimes committed by the terrorist military group.

In August 2023, it issued a report entitled "Revenge Against the People" which included killings by the terrorist group and its affiliates, as well as those committed by the People's Defense Force - PDF.

In September of the same year, another report was released titled " A License to Torture ." In this report, the ground information of after the military coup d'état, the terrorist military group and its affiliated organizations have been perpetrating abuses against civilians are collected and released as a report.

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