Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07RANGOON1140
2007-11-26 07:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:
BURMESE GENERALS PRIZE ORDER OVER LAW
how-toVZCZCXRO5013 OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH DE RUEHGO #1140 3300715 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 260715Z NOV 07 FM AMEMBASSY RANGOON TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6892 INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0733 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 4283 RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 7824 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 5384 RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 1259 RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1184 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001140
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: BURMESE GENERALS PRIZE ORDER OVER LAW
Classified By: Political Officer Chelsia Wheeler for Reasons 1.4 (b) &
(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001140
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: BURMESE GENERALS PRIZE ORDER OVER LAW
Classified By: Political Officer Chelsia Wheeler for Reasons 1.4 (b) &
(d)
1. (C) Summary. Kyaw Zaw Naing, head of the Global Green
Group, which received a small grant in 2007 from Embassy
Rangoon, described his efforts to promote legal knowledge
with free law clinics throughout the country. Basic legal
knowledge, he explained, will empower citizens to protect
themselves from unfair application of laws, many of which are
written primarily for government benefit. End Summary.
2. (C) In a meeting with Poloff on November 21, Kyaw Zaw
Naing, head of the Embassy-funded Global Green Group,
described his efforts to increase citizens' legal knowledge
in Burma. His program is in the process of starting five
legal clinics in Mon and Rakhine States and Tanintharyi and
Rangoon Divisions. The clinics will allow citizens to bring
legal questions and concerns to community lawyers and leaders
for pro-bono advice. Under the grant, Kyaw Zaw Naing has
also developed a 2,000 page legal handbook that covers the
basic laws in Burma and provides an excellent resource for
people with relatively simple legal questions. He has also
translated the U.S. Constitution and the UN Universal
Declaration on Human Rights into Burmese, and provided
commentary for readers who have never encountered legal
documents.
3. (C) Even in Burma, where the military rulers believe that
"order is superior to law," basic legal knowledge provides
citizens with significant protection for themselves and their
assets, explained Kyaw Zaw Naing. For example, Burmese laws
regulating marriages and the age of majority vary depending
on a person's religion. Therefore, a seventeen-year-old
might be permitted to marry under one religion and not under
another where the majority age is eighteen. Government
officials, aware that most people do not know their rights,
commonly promote or prevent marriages illegally, depending on
how they quote the law. A citizen who knows his rights under
his specific religion will understand whether or not he is of
age to marry, said Kyaw Zaw Naing.
4. (C) Legal education in Burma, and therefore legal
knowledge throughout the populace, is almost nonexistent.
Kyaw Zaw Naing explained that the study of law at the
university level only attracts mediocre students, the best
preferring to study medicine. Furthermore, because the
Attorney General's office has the sole power to write the
laws under the senior generals' direction and because most
citizen's believe themselves powerless to fight for their own
rights, employment opportunities for law graduates remain
limited.
5. (C) Comment: Kyaw Zaw Naing's project provides an
invaluable tool for citizens in a country where the
government considers their legal rights far less important
than its desire to promote its own version of order. His
grassroots level work helps give ordinary Burmese more tools
to protect themselves and is helping to lay the foundation
for the rule of law in a future democratic Burma. End
Comment.
VILLAROSA
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: BURMESE GENERALS PRIZE ORDER OVER LAW
Classified By: Political Officer Chelsia Wheeler for Reasons 1.4 (b) &
(d)
1. (C) Summary. Kyaw Zaw Naing, head of the Global Green
Group, which received a small grant in 2007 from Embassy
Rangoon, described his efforts to promote legal knowledge
with free law clinics throughout the country. Basic legal
knowledge, he explained, will empower citizens to protect
themselves from unfair application of laws, many of which are
written primarily for government benefit. End Summary.
2. (C) In a meeting with Poloff on November 21, Kyaw Zaw
Naing, head of the Embassy-funded Global Green Group,
described his efforts to increase citizens' legal knowledge
in Burma. His program is in the process of starting five
legal clinics in Mon and Rakhine States and Tanintharyi and
Rangoon Divisions. The clinics will allow citizens to bring
legal questions and concerns to community lawyers and leaders
for pro-bono advice. Under the grant, Kyaw Zaw Naing has
also developed a 2,000 page legal handbook that covers the
basic laws in Burma and provides an excellent resource for
people with relatively simple legal questions. He has also
translated the U.S. Constitution and the UN Universal
Declaration on Human Rights into Burmese, and provided
commentary for readers who have never encountered legal
documents.
3. (C) Even in Burma, where the military rulers believe that
"order is superior to law," basic legal knowledge provides
citizens with significant protection for themselves and their
assets, explained Kyaw Zaw Naing. For example, Burmese laws
regulating marriages and the age of majority vary depending
on a person's religion. Therefore, a seventeen-year-old
might be permitted to marry under one religion and not under
another where the majority age is eighteen. Government
officials, aware that most people do not know their rights,
commonly promote or prevent marriages illegally, depending on
how they quote the law. A citizen who knows his rights under
his specific religion will understand whether or not he is of
age to marry, said Kyaw Zaw Naing.
4. (C) Legal education in Burma, and therefore legal
knowledge throughout the populace, is almost nonexistent.
Kyaw Zaw Naing explained that the study of law at the
university level only attracts mediocre students, the best
preferring to study medicine. Furthermore, because the
Attorney General's office has the sole power to write the
laws under the senior generals' direction and because most
citizen's believe themselves powerless to fight for their own
rights, employment opportunities for law graduates remain
limited.
5. (C) Comment: Kyaw Zaw Naing's project provides an
invaluable tool for citizens in a country where the
government considers their legal rights far less important
than its desire to promote its own version of order. His
grassroots level work helps give ordinary Burmese more tools
to protect themselves and is helping to lay the foundation
for the rule of law in a future democratic Burma. End
Comment.
VILLAROSA