Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) issued an official statement on Tuesday expressing strong support for the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum’s (SEANF) decision to terminate the membership of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC).
“Rather than fulfilling its mandate to protect and promote human rights, the MNHRC has served as a shield for the terrorist military junta, concealing its violations,” the NUG states on Oct. 20, while accusing the MNHRC of failing to protect civilians and actively shielding the military following its February 2021 coup.
The regional termination, effective Oct. 19 after the MNHRC refused to participate in a formal eligibility review, strips the regime-controlled body of its scheduled 2027 rotating SEANF chairmanship and bars it from attending the upcoming 23rd SEANF Annual Conference.
The NUG highlighted that multi-stakeholder efforts are currently underway to establish a genuine, independent replacement body, tentatively named the Union Human Rights Commission.
This initiative unites the 21-member CSO Working Group, Ethnic Resistance Organisations (EROs), federal units composed of pro-democracy activists and elected 2020 National League for Democracy (NLD) party lawmakers, the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH).
The SEANF disqualification completes the total international isolation of the MNHRC, which was originally established in September 2011 under then-President Thein Sein’s pro-military administration.
The regional forum’s decision follows the MNHRC’s expulsion from the Asia Pacific Forum (APF) in May 2025 and the formal withdrawal of its accreditation by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions Sub-Committee on Accreditation (GANHRI-SCA) in December 2024.
