Federal Law Academy Introduction
Aiming to establish a free, fair, peaceful, and developed Federal Democratic Union, the Federal Law Academy was founded in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State, in 2014. With academic support of some international legal academicians, the Federal Law Academy has come into existence. The Academy is the only institution in the entire country that offers a variety of subjects covering ‘Federalism towards Human Rights’ by especially accentuating the right to self-determination of the ethnic nationalities and their states/provinces with the underpinning of the Rule of Law. The Academy aims to nurture the ethnic youths who want to earn their livings as independent legal practitioners. Evidently, the various ethnic nationalities and their territories/states existed as independent entities in history. The Academy welcomes the ethnic youths who would like to be trained as leaders to lead a Federal Democratic Union – constituted by the states which exercise full autonomy, equality and self-determination – in future.
Prospective students must, at minimum, pass the second year examination of any university/college for admission in the FLA.History has proven that, without the existence of powerful independent civil society organizations - that would observe, criticize, specify, oversee and facilitate the actions of the governments at local, provincial and union levels, the emergence of a genuine Federal Union will never be feasible. Besides, those organizations play a vital role in seeking a genuine peace. The Federal Law Academy, therefore, serves as a stepping-stone for those ethnic youths who would like to form, operate, and activate such civil society organizations.Moreover, the Academy is training the ethnic youths to become qualified legal practitioners in order to facilitate people in their struggles to eliminate military dictatorship, chauvinism and extreme nationalism that harm peace, while upholding the Rule of Law.
Background of Federal Law Academy
The various ethnic nationalities and their constituent units, which existed as independent entities in history, unitedly founded Burma, also known now as Myanmar, since its independence from the British in 1948. Since then, the country has been plagued by civil war given, inter alia, the lack of equal rights and self-determination of the ethnic nationalities, resulting in serious human rights violations to this day.
In terms of population, the Myanmar nationality forms the majority whereas non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities constitute a minority. Between1948-1962, the development of the country took place in the lowland – mainly inhabited by the Myanmar nationality – leaving behind the mountainous areas where non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities have been residing for hundreds of years. Such uneven development happened under the rule of the democratic regimes, which were mainly overwhelmed by the Myanmar leaders, under the 1947 Constitution. The non-Myanmar ethnic leaders deduced from these experiences that, due to lack of sufficient knowledge of the constitution and other laws, they were hoodwinked by the Myanmar leaders.
Before and after the independence of Burma, the main university, where law subjects could be studied, was located only in the capital of the country, Rangoon (currently, known as Yangon), to which the non-Myanmar ethnic youths had only rare access; as such, legal education was primarily enjoyed by the Myanmar youths.In the aftermath of the military coup of 1962, all people in Burma have suffered a lot. However, when the Myanmar nationality is contrasted with the non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities, the situation of the latter has been much worse than the former over the past five decades. Even under the current so-called democratic transition which commenced in 2011, a form of legal education – which would facilitate resolving underlying issues on civil war, advancing human rights and the Rule of Law, and leading to development of all ethnic nationalities – has remained unaddressed. At present, there exists no qualified law school in ethnic states.
In terms of geography, which is linked to the rights of the ethnic nationalities, the dealings of the international legal and human rights community have been uneven given that almost all of their major activities which seek to create an educational environment are currently conducted in the lowland – mainly in big cities such as Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Daw, etc. – whilst marginalizing the mountainous areas where uneducated non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities reside. Founding the Federal Law Academy is a modest attempt to address this gap.