The Raoul Wallenberg Institute recently organised a training workshop on economic globalisation and human rights in Mandalay, Myanmar in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of Mandalay University, targeting participants from 18 law faculties across Myanmar.
“The main purpose of the workshop was to increase knowledge among professors, lecturers, researchers and tutors on business operations, sustainable development and environment protection and their relation to human rights” says Emily Hanna, Programme Officer at RWI.
Myanmar’s increased economic activity brings opportunities for development and for realizing human rights, but also well-known risks for labor and land rights as well as for the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources, says Professor Radu Mares, Senior Researcher at RWI and the main resource person for the workshop.
“Participants became better aware of international frameworks, materials, and research methods,” says Mares. “Their knowledge of Myanmar’s changing legal landscape is now enhanced by awareness to the latest international developments around the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in theory and in practice.”
The workshop was timely because a compulsory human rights course will be introduced in the third year of the LL. B. program at Mandalay University later this year. Also, law faculty members will need increased human rights knowledge to be able to teach in the course.
The workshop also touched upon human rights research methodology and human rights education. Speakers included local experts from civil society organizations such as Thone Pan Lha and the Myanmar Center for Responsible Business who gave lectures on the situation of women in the garment industry in Myanmar, on the environmental and social impact assessments of the tourism industry in Myanmar, and on the rights of indigenous peoples in the context of economic globalization respectively.