Myanmar: Analysis of the Organisation Registration Law The right to cultural life under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also includes a right to associate in cultural organisations.22 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has noted that any restrictions on the right to cultural life should take into account whether that restriction can legitimately be imposed on other fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression and association.23 Freedom of association, as well as other fundamental rights described above, are also protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the foundational document of modern human rights law.24 Other influential international standards and statements also affirm freedom of association and related rights. The UN General Assembly Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, for example, affirms to the right to “form, join and participate in” NGOs and other groups.25 For the purposes of this Analysis, human rights law presents important internationallyaccepted standards, regardless of whether they are technically binding on Myanmar. For this reason, this Analysis refers to relevant standards under the ICCPR as well as under other major international human rights treaties. As is illustrated below, numerous restrictions on fundamental rights in the NGO Law do not align with these standards. 2. Mandatory Registration 2.1. Requirements under the NGO Law The NGO Law requires organisations to register officially by obtaining a registration certificate. Registration certificates are granted by registration boards established at national, subnational and local levels. The basic registration system is similar in nature to the one in the 2014 NGO Law, with a crucial difference: whereas that system was voluntary, registration is now mandatory. According to the NGO Law, no one shall establish and operate an organisation without a registration certificate. 26 Violating this prohibition may result in up to three years’ 22 UN General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI), 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976, Article 15(1); see generally Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 21, 21 December 2009, undocs.org/E/C.12/GC/21. 23 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 21, 21 December 2009, para. 19, undocs.org/E/C.12/GC/21. 24 UN General Assembly Resolution 217A(III), 10 December 1948. 25 UN General Assembly Resolution 3/144, 8 March 1999, Article 5, undocs.org/A/RES/53/144. 26 NGO Law, section 33. The GNLM version is not clear, stating: “Anyone shall not be allowed to form the organization for movements.” This reads like a prohibition on organisations related to the civil disobedience movement or other movements. In comparison, the Lincoln translation states: “Nobody shall establish and operate an association without a registration certificate”, an entirely different meaning. The second one is the correct translation of the Burmese version available on the Myanmar Legal Information System (https://bit.ly/3JRnjd4), as confirmed to The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. 5