Negotiating Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector in Myanmar

Abstract

There is widely-shared recognition of the need to place Myanmar’s defence services and broader security sector – including the police forces, intelligence community, and the legatees of active or former armed rebel organizations and paramilitary units operating in the country’s war-torn areas – under civilian and parliamentary control, with the expectation that they will respect the rights and liberties of the civilian populations, accept discussion of the funds they receive out of the public purse, and be accountable for their (mis)behaviors and abuses. There is however an equally widely-shared consensus, even in the new National League for Democracy (NLD) leadership, on the current impracticality of this goal. Be that as it may, at this stage of Myanmar’s political development, the emerging civilian policy circles can still design and strengthen parliamentary instruments for incremental legislative oversight of the security forces.