[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1134, 472], "category": "Text", "text": "they still serve as the main means of resolving disputes at the local level. The formal system and local administrators used to play equal roles in resolving disputes, however these roles have now diminished, following loss of trust in local administration actors. While community and religious leaders continue to play an important role in many communities, local mediators are becoming increasingly important too, in particular for disputes and petty offences, and disputants are more likely to try to resolve these conflicts through negotiation or other means with formal structures decreasing in importance. Although these systems provide an avenue for justice seekers with grievances who refuse to engage with the formal system, they are also problematic due to the deeply ingrained discrimination they can carry. These mechanisms are most of the time dominated by middle-aged and older men, although communities also often nominate women as negotiators, as they are considered less likely to escalate conflicts than men¹⁶. This reality calls for capacity-building of community-based dispute resolution mechanisms to ensure micro-level justice providers and mediators provide fair and gender sensitive support to solve local dispute and know which mechanisms to refer to for more serious offences and crimes."}, {"bbox": [96, 483, 1134, 962], "category": "Text", "text": "**Emerging and ethnic justice systems.** Following the 2021 Coup, Myanmar has seen the emergence of a multiplicity of local level governance and justice mechanisms and systems, in addition to those that were already in place. Many areas in Myanmar are now in a legally plural environment. In places where they exist, people overwhelmingly trust the emerging legal mechanisms and justice systems more than the formal SAC's courts. The degree of formalisation and quality of the systems in place vary greatly across geographical areas, with some ethnic areas, like Rakhine and Kayin, having already established their own courts, some of them well before the 2021 military coup. However, these justice systems are facing significant challenges, including handling violations committed by their own resistance forces against civilians or against enemy combatants. It is still uncertain whether those justice systems will adopt or adhere to the principles of fair trial rights, due process, the right to appeal and the overall protection of rights. In parallel, new administrations provide judicial services in the areas under its control, in particular in Sagaing and Magway. Even though this justice system is still in its infancy and requires time to develop, courts are functional and active. Extreme caution needs to be exercised when considering these emerging systems. Nonetheless, support from trusted civil society actors represents an important opportunity to introduce norms and values which can improve the inclusivity, fairness and human rights compliance of such systems. Some of these systems have also pro-actively taken measures to ensure women's participation in their structures, and there is a widespread rhetorical commitment to no-discrimination and inclusivity. Based on current research, 3 ethnic areas appear to show the highest levels of inclusivity and willingness to engage with civil society for improving their systems' compliance with international standards of justice: Kayin, Kayah and Mon States."}, {"bbox": [96, 972, 1134, 1186], "category": "Text", "text": "**Governmental justice actors/formal justice system.** In line with the principle of non-engagement, this action will not benefit the de facto authorities-controlled justice institutions. It will however engage with the system in the sense that it will deliver legal aid to defendants trialled under the formal courts (including politically motivated cases). The objectives behind this form of engagement is multifold: first, through access to a defence lawyer, defendants have more chance to see the violations of their rights to a fair trial limited and to secure shorter sentences. Secondly, lawyers can document violations they witness, which might feed in the future transitional justice mechanisms. Additionally, protecting the rights of defendants within the formal system is a way to uphold rights to a fair trial¹⁷."}, {"bbox": [96, 1197, 1134, 1464], "category": "Text", "text": "The final beneficiaries Rights holders of this action are **Myanmar's citizens**, and in particular those pertaining to poor, the most marginalised or vulnerable groups, including women and youth, and needing legal support, **both as defendants and justice seekers**. Myanmar citizens in general have seen reduced opportunities over the past 3 years to solve grievances, due to the general local governance vacuum. The overall justice seeking efforts have become much more challenging, in a context of increasing conflict. This action will work with the relevant stakeholders identified above in order to increase understanding, availability and accessibility of inclusive and fair justice processes for Myanmar citizens, while also empowering them to claim their rights and take action to protect fundamentals freedom. Civil society organisations, including youth and women groups, ethnic minority groups and representatives of the most marginalised populations will be engaged in various processes of this action, including in consultation mechanisms and capacity building activities."}, {"bbox": [86, 1548, 755, 1573], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁶ UN Women Gender Alert 22 “Local Governance and Gender”, February 2024"}, {"bbox": [85, 1573, 1144, 1644], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁷ As positive example, previous EU-programmes have seen that formal justice actors now understand that legal aid lawyers will refuse to take part in corruption to secure more positive outcomes for their clients and have stopped asking for bribes in these cases."}, {"bbox": [1016, 1655, 1144, 1682], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 10 of 32"}]