HRN gives full support to grassroots efforts of civil societies based on the firm belief that such activities can make a real difference for human rights situations on the ground.
Myanmar (Burma)
Since 2007, HRN has supported a law school called Peace Law Academy (PLA) in Mae Sot, Thailand, near the border of Myanmar, with the aim of providing grassroots support for Myanmar youth who are striving to change their society under the legacy of the military dictatorship.
We have been empowering these youth, who are bearers of the country’s future, by providing them a series of lectures and courses to teach on a wide range of topics, including international human rights standards, the international human rights framework for protecting rights on the ground, and comparative studies of various legal systems.
The school has produced three generations of graduates since 2007, with over 75 students, including ethnic minorities and women. Today, many of the graduates have returned to Myanmar and are actively working to promote human rights and democracy in the country.
Since 2014, HRN has operated a human rights education program inside Myanmar in collaboration with the Myanmar Bar Association (MBA) to provide human rights education to local lawyers and citizens. HRN sends affiliated lawyers roughly 5 times per year to Yangon, where they hold law seminars to the MBA, student law groups, other NGOs, and more.
Northeast Asia
HRN has provided a number of capacity-building programs to human rights defenders in Northeast Asia. HRN actively participates in a series of trainings for human rights NGOs in the region, and works to strengthen networking among human rights defenders there.