When asked about the purpose of justice, community members routinely said it was ‘to make big cases small and small cases disappear’.
This captures a common reality of local experiences of justice in Myanmar: that disputes or injustices are not reported, are downplayed or are resolved at the lowest level possible, often at the expense of wider substantive justice.
MyJustice recently conducted research to examine peoples’ experience of localised justice in Myanmar. The research report documents the lowest, and most used, levels of dispute resolution in communities in Mon State and Yangon Region. Drawing on interviews with 600 people, it sets out the common disputes, crimes and injustices that people speak of experiencing, the ways people seek to resolve these issues and why, as well as an assessment of the quality of the justice they are able to achieve.
The report identifies that a lack of trust in the institutions of justice and deep socio-religious beliefs, prevent many people from reporting injustices and rights infringements. Those who do report favour reporting at the lowest level possible, often placing social harmony above their personal rights and justice. The research identifies that vulnerable populations, including the poor, women, ethnic and religious minorities and non conforming genders face particularly high barriers to accessing justice.
The full report can be downloaded in English and Myanmar. Three shorter policy briefs are also downloadable here, exploring notions of justice; legal pluralism in Myanmar; and debt disputes.