Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB)
A trusted, impartial forum for responsible business in Myanmar.
IHRB’s work in Myanmar began during 2012 in the context of the newly launched democratic reform process. This led to the joint establishment with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) of the pioneering Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB). Based in Yangon, MCRB provided a trusted, impartial forum for dialogue, seminars, and briefings to relevant parties committed to responsible business in Myanmar, as well as access to international expertise and tools.
IHRB and DIHR worked closely with MCRB to advance these objectives with Myanmar and international business, government, and civil society. A series of sector wide impact assessments (SWIA), a concept developed by IHRB, DIHR and MCRB, are one flagship resource. These analyses an industry’s human rights risks at multiple levels (sectoral, cumulative and project), based on extensive field-work and desk research, using the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as the framework. SWIAs completed included the Oil & Gas, Information Communications Technology, Tourism, and Mining and also a baseline assessment of the Private Security sector.
The decision was taken in December 2022 to close MCRB’s Yangon office and the MCRB programme ceased to be active in 2024. However Vicky Bowman remains MCRB Director and continues to bring the lessons from MCRB’s experience of working on business and human rights in Myanmar to IHRB’s wider work on business and human rights in challenging contexts.
