CHRO works with a variety of private and institutional donors and agencies. We also receive supports from diaspora Chin communities and faith-based organizations from different countries around the world. A list of current and past funding partners and organizations may only be provided on request due to the sensitive nature of CHRO’s work.
Chin Human Rights Organization works with local, national, regional and international groups on a range of issues. At the Chin State level, CHRO works with a variety of local partners and has built strong relationship with academic institution, media, civil society, religious and community-based organizations from across the nine townships in the State, as well as groups based outside of neighboring regions, including Sagaing, Magwe and Rakhine State.
CHIN STATE
In Hakha, CHRO works with groups based in the capital, including Chin Civil Society Network & Chin Media Network
NATIONAL
Myanmar Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Nationalities Network
CHRO is a founding member of the Myanmar Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Nationalities Network, a 28-member alliance working on indigenous rights issues from across the ethnic states and regions in Myanmar
Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma
CHRO is an affiliate member of the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma (ND-Burma), a Thai-Burma border-based group consisting of human rights organizations working on documentation and advocacy. The network maintains a common data-base of documented incidents of human rights abuses from across the country.
REGIONAL
Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact
CHRO is a member the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and currently sits on its Executive Council. AIPP is a regional organization founded in 1992 by indigenous peoples’ movements. AIPP is committed to the cause of promoting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights and human rights and articulating issues of relevance to indigenous peoples. At present, AIPP has 47 members from 14 countries in Asia with 18 indigenous peoples’ national alliances/networks (national formations), 30 local and sub-national organizations. Of this number, 16 are ethnic based organizations, six (6) indigenous women and four (4) are indigenous youth organizations and one (1) organization of indigenous persons with disabilities.
Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network
CHRO is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network. APPRN is an open and growing network consisting of more than 434 civil society organizations and individuals from 29 countries committed to advancing the rights of refugees in the Asia Pacific region. We do this through information sharing, mutual capacity building, and joint advocacy.
INTERNATIONAL
CHRO is a Non-Governmental Organization in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2018.
In order to meet changing needs & adapt to new operating and security environment following the February 2021 military coup, CHRO operations structure has been reorganized to reflect current situation and realities. Accordingly, CHRO has been restructured into two primary Divisions: Human Rights Division & Humanitarian Division to meet the dual challenges of human rights and humanitarian nature faced by the Chin people in northwest Myanmar.
The decision to expand our programming work to include humanitarian assistance is motivated by the enormity of the humanitarian challenges in the post-coup situation in which a fifth of the population has been displaced as a direct consequence of military expansion and escalating levels of conflicts and related human rights abuses in Chin State and northwest Myanmar. The lack of existing capacity and well-established organizations ready to respond to the fast-growing humanitarian crisis make it necessary for us to step in and fill the vacuum. As a well established organization with a track record of responding to the crises in Chin State over the past nearly three decades, CHRO is naturally well-positioned to take on the challenge. In the meantime, CHRO is committed to building the capacity of local actors and naturing local CSOs and CBOs partners in order to ensure continuity and sustainability with regards to humanitarian efforts in the long run.
Human Rights Division is composed of two thematic programs under the previous structure: Human Rights Documentation Program and Human Rights Education & Freedom of Religion or Belief Program. The Division has two program units, each headed by a manager: Documentation & Accountability Unit and Protection Unit.
Documentation & Accountability Unit: Documentation and Accountability Unit is headed by a Manager (Program Director for HRE & FoRB under previous structure) and is responsible for coordinating all documentation work and data management, in coordination with Manager of Protection Unit (Program Director) and the Advocacy and Research Coordinator. The Unit collects, stores and maintains data and information relating to human rights, and manages field staff working on documentation and data collections across all human rights projects. The Unit works on investigating and developing case files related to serious crimes in order to collect admissible evidence of serious human rights abuses to advance accountability for violations of IHRL/IHL/ICL.
Protection Unit: Protection Unit is headed by a Manager (Program Director for Human Rights Documentation under previous structure) and is responsible for managing protection issues and providing services, including physical protection for vulnerable persons and human rights defenders at risk, shelter, financial and medical support programs. The unit works in coordination with Documentation and Accountability Unit in the collection and management of data and information from the field.
Humanitarian Division is composed of two thematic programs under the previous structure: Peace, Development & Democratization Program and Indigenous Peoples Development Program.
The Division has two program units headed by each program director: Livelihood, Food Security and Emergency Response Unit and Health, Education & Community Liaison Unit.
Livelihood, Food Security and Emergency Response Unit is responsible for mobilizing the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid, managing livelihood and food security initiatives for conflict-affected communities. The Head of Unit works in close coordination and complementary with the Health, Education & Community Liaison Unit
Health, Education & Community Liaison Unit is responsible for mobilizing the delivery of health and education support programs for conflict-affected communities. The Unit also has the primary role of liaising and communicating/interacting with community structures, local administrative bodies and committees.
CHRO’s activities are centered on four principal program areas. Each of our programs is headed by a Program Director, who manages and oversees projects and activities under that particular program. The four programs are as follows;
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTATION PROGRAM
Human rights documentation is at the heart of CHRO’s work since our very inception in 1995. Documenting human rights situation in Burma, especially under the previous military junta, entails great risks for personnel working in the frontline to collect information on the ground. Under the extremely hostile environment, CHRO field personnel clandestinely monitor and document human rights situation in western Burma. Information and data collected from the ground are then verified, collated, published and disseminated to the outside world to inform the international community about the situation facing the Chin people. CHRO documentations serve as the primary source of information about the situation of Chin people for the international community, as well as, provided the principal basis for our advocacy efforts for the protection and promotion of human rights in Burma for the past 25 years.
HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF PROGRAM
CHRO’s approach to human rights education is two-folds: teaching of formal human rights education at learning institutions on the one hand and grassroots human rights awareness programs through short-term training, on another. In partnership with the Chin Christian University (CCU), the privately-run higher learning institution based in Hakha, CHRO has been running a human rights course as part of the official curricula for the last four academic year. Under a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CCU, undergraduate students from different academic fields are taught a human rights course, which includes topics ranging from basic human rights, freedom of religion or belief, business and human rights to international human rights standards and mechanisms, as well as human rights advocacy and their practical application in local and international contexts using specific case studies and examples. CHRO is working to expand the teaching program to other educational institutions in Chin State.
On the other hand, CHRO provides short term tailored human rights training for various groups and communities in villages and rural areas affected by decades of human rights abuses. The rationale being that when people are equipped with the awareness and knowledge of their rights, the are more likely to be able to effectively defend their own rights.
One of the primary human rights issues facing the Chin people for generations have been violations of the right to freedom of religion amounting to persecution under the military regime. Over 90 percent of the Chin people are Christians and have faced discrimination on the basis of their religious identity in a country that is predominantly Buddhist. Today, under a new semi-democratic civilian government, the Chin people still face discriminatory policies and institutional practices that prevent them from enjoying religious freedom. The majority of Christians in Chin State and Chin people living in Rakhine State, Magwe and Sagaing Regions face severe restrictions on constructing or renovating places of religious worship, legal ownership of religious land and properties and proselytizing of Christianity.
IAccording to a CHRO September report, Christian communities in Chin State were still unable to own land registered for religious purposes; instead they used private or individual names to register the land and build houses of worship. A local official said high-ranking government officials in Chin State chose to conduct official visits on Sundays to disrupt church services.
International Religious Freedom Report for 2019
United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
The internationally accepted term “Indigenous Peoples” in Burma context pertains to ‘ethnic issues.’ Since the very beginning, CHRO has participated and engaged in the international processes relating to indigenous peoples at the United Nations in Geneva. From the time of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples under the Sub-Commission on Human Rights, CHRO has actively participated in the larger indigenous peoples movement and was a part of the deliberation process for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). As an active member of the Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact (AIPP), CHRO now regularly participates at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. In 2016, CHRO started establishing a working relationship with the newly-formed Myanmar Ministry of Ethnic Affairs in conducting capacity-building for senior members of the Ministry and leaders of indigenous human rights groups from the different ethnic states in Myanmar. In 2017, CHRO co-organized with the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs the country’s first ever “Policy Dialogue on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Myanmar,” which was participated by a range of national and international stakeholders, including grassroots indigenous representatives and the UN Country Team. CHRO also helped the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs in drafting its by-laws by conducting two rounds of multi-stakeholders’ consultations, which was hailed as the first ever open multi-stakeholders’ consultation process in developing an administrative law in Myanmar. CHRO also works in close partnership with the Myanmar Indigenous Peoples’ Network, a 28-member coalition, which it co-founded in 2014 in order to collectively advance the rights of Myanmar’s ethnic peoples from across the country. As a leading organization on indigenous peoples’ rights in Myanmar, CHRO also works on Climate Change and environmental issues, as well as, land, natural resources and territorial issues as they relate to the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
PEACE, DEVELOPMENT & DEMOCRATIZATION PROGRAM
Peace, development and democratization are all inter-related issues in Myanmar today. These issues are becoming even more relevant for the Chin people after the signing of the bilateral ceasefire between the Chin armed group Chin National Front (CNF) and the Myanmar government in 2012, which saw the beginning of a new environment of peace and relative calm after 24 years of armed conflicts in Chin State. Because of long-term neglect and discrimination by successive governments, Chin State has lagged far behind in all aspects of development, including basic infrastructures such as road and transportation systems, education and healthcare facilities, becoming the poorest of all regions of the country within a span of less than three decades. By 2014, 73 percent of the population lived under poverty line, which is three times higher than the national average, according to the United Nations. Systematic human rights abuses such as forced labor and violations of religious freedom against the largely Christian population has led to the exodus of over a fourth of the total population out of Chin State since 1988. But the new environment under a semi-civilian democratic government has also paved a way for new development and economic opportunities in the State. At the same time, new opportunities for foreign investments have created a situation in which new human rights concerns have emerged due to the lack of effective safeguards and issues of access to justice and remedial mechanisms and measures. A human rights approach is therefore needed to ensure that all developments and other measures designed to mitigate poverty in Chin State meet the minimum standards of fairness. Cross-cutting with these issues is the rights of indigenous peoples and the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), which is at the center of CHRO’s work around indigenous issues under the Indigenous Peoples Development Program.
Based in the state capital Hakha, and with the financial support of the multi-donor group Livelihood and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT Fund) and in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), CHRO is currently working on a project to address labor and migration issues under the Peace, Development and Democratization Program, which is being implemented in all of the nine townships in Chin State.
To be updated soon.
The new Executive Body consists of the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, Operations Director & Finance Director.
The Management Team is made up of the four unit managers of each program division, Head of Finance and Head of Admin and Human Resources.
To be updated soon
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Over the years, based on organizational experience and necessity from growth, CHRO has developed a set of policies and procedures regulating how we function and operate as an organization. The following policies and procedures, which are subject to periodic review and revisions/amendments, are currently practiced or are in various status of development. These documents are treated as confidential (for now) due to the current security situation and sensitive operating environment. However, interested third parties and/or potential partners can request the documents by contacting us at [email protected]
CHRO code of conduct
CHRO financial management policy
CHRO admin policy (being reviewed and updated)
CHRO procurement guideline (newly updated draft)
CHRO anti-corruption policy
CHRO gender policy
CHRO vehicle usage policy (draft)
CHRO staff’s handbook
CHRO office guide
CHRO partnership guideline
CHRO PSEA policy (draft)
CHRO guidelines on DNH, conflict sensitivity and gender inclusion (draft)
CHRO security and safety guidelines/SOPs (draft)
CHRO data protection and privacy guideline (being developed)
CHRO cash-based intervention guideline (draft)
CHRO conflict of interest policy (draft)
CHRO policy on personal conduct (draft)
CHRO child protection policy (draft)
CHRO works with a variety of private and institutional donors and agencies. We also receive supports from diaspora Chin communities and faith-based organizations from different countries around the world. A list of current and past funding partners and organizations may only be provided on request due to the sensitive nature of CHRO’s work.
Chin Human Rights Organization
2693-Magee Avenue,
San Pablo, CA 94806, USA
PH: TBA
Email: [email protected]
Web: chro.ca
CHRO works to protect and promote human rights through monitoring, research, documentation, education and advocacy on behalf of indigenous Chin people and other oppressed and marginalized communities in Myanmar.
Chin Human Rights Organization is working to protect and promote the rights of the Chin people. Decades long violation of the rights of women and children, forced labour, political suppression, racial discrimination religious persecutions committed by the Burmese military regime results extreme poverty and thousands of Chin to flee from their home country in search of survival.
Founded in 1995, Chin Human Rights organization (CHRO) is a non-governmental non-profit organization legally registered in Canada and the United States. CHRO is accredited with Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2018.
Founded in 1995, Chin Human Rights organization (CHRO) is a non-governmental non-profit organization legally registered in Canada and the United States. CHRO is accredited with Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2018.
Our Mission:
CHRO works to protect and promote human rights through monitoring, research, documentation, education and advocacy on behalf of indigenous Chin people and other oppressed and marginalized communities in Myanmar.
Our Vision:
Through our work, we envision a meaningful social change and the full realization of the enjoyment of human rights where the equal dignity of all human beings is respected and upheld in a free, just and democratic society.
Our Objectives
1. To provide accurate and reliable information about the human rights situation facing Chin and other marginalized communities in Myanmar
2. To protect and promote human rights and democratic principles
3. To empower people to defend and promote their human rights
Primarily based in exile since its founding, CHRO has established an in-country presence since 2013, and has championed indigenous peoples’ rights and freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) as two key thematic areas of focus in Myanmar. In working towards its objectives, CHRO monitors, documents and reports on the human rights situation, provides capacity building through human rights training and education to empower individuals and communities affected by rights abuses, and conducts policy advocacy to improve human rights protection frameworks at the local, national and international levels. At the same time, the organization has built and empowered a strong network of rights-based organizations from across the country, and established good working relationships and trust with local communities and governmental institutions at both the local and national levels.
Our Motto:
Initiate, Inform, Inspire, Influence: The four “I”s represent our guiding philosophy towards achieving our goals of meaningful social change. It is rooted in the belief that it is up to us to start something ourselves, to inform others of what’s happening and of the initiatives we took, and in the process, inspire others to join our cause so that we can together influence the outcome or the desired change.
