Myanmar Indigenous Engagement with Global Human Rights & Environment Discourses

Jonathan Liljeblad, Associate Professor at Australian National University College of Law, drew from an upcoming monograph on indigenous activism in Myanmar, Indigenous Identity, Human Rights, and the Environment in Myanmar: Local Engagement with Global Rights Discourses, which studied the efforts of Myanmar indigenous peoples to engage international mechanisms of the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The discussion summarized the findings of field research, noting the instrumental nature of Myanmar activists in connecting their grievances with the Myanmar state to global discourses of indigeneity, human rights, and environment. The analysis considered the implications of their experiences for notions of transnational non-state activism and indigenous agency in international law.