Myanmar Parliament monitors the government’s response to Covid-19

The MYPOL project, which is funded by Europe and managed by FIIAPP, continues to work with its partners during Covid-19 to help the Myanmar Police become a modern police service focused on international best practices respecting human rights. But not all MYPOL’s work is with the police. MYPOL also works with the Myanmar Parliament (known as “Hluttaw“) with the aim of increasing its supervisory functions and to improve police accountability.

In the past, the European MYPOL project has held workshops with the Myanmar parliament to demonstrate the governance of the security sector in other countries around the world, and how European laws could be adapted to the country. Now, during the Covid-19 crisis, the members of the parliaments have requested that MYPOL collect information on how other countries have faced the challenges arising due to the pandemic and how the parliament of this Asian country could use these lessons for its own response.

With the arrival of the pandemic, the project continues to organise workshops, this time virtual ones, that have been attended by parliamentary representatives and have discussed how to address the concerns and challenges of Covid-19. The first workshop focused on the parliament’s oversight of the response of the Government and security institutions to Covid-19, including parliamentary activity under existing laws. Members of parliament and the MYPOL project have had an in-depth debate on how the Hluttaw can respond to the pandemic on various issues, such as economic recovery, elections, gender violence, human rights, education and public health.

The project’s key legal and parliamentary framework expert, along with the project’s Burmese technical advisor and other international specialists, helped guide the discussion and provided information on how the Burmese Hluttaw could address the requirements of the current situation. The Covid-19 crisis has not only not paralysed the MYPOL project’s work, but has also made it adapt to the pandemic, in order to face the new challenges.