A/HRC/43/18 level, before the International Court of Justice and at the International Criminal Court, and with the establishment of the Independent International Mechanism on Myanmar. 20. The weakness and lack of independence of the judiciary also remains detrimental to the rule of law. Overt influence of the military over civilian court proceedings, widespread corruption, violations of basic fair trial rights, and reluctance of prosecution to accept petitions from victims of gross human rights violations to initiate criminal proceedings 37 affect both minorities and the majority population. Legal representation and access to judicial remedies, both for criminal and civilian cases, are further compromised by the difficult economic situation of most victims. The barriers routinely faced by minorities, particularly women, in the justice system and the general mistrust in the State means that the majority of people not utilize formal justice mechanism38. Lawyers, victims or their families are often subjected to intimidation, reprisals and disciplinary actions 39. Discrimination against ethnic and religious minority lawyers is another obstacle to members of minorities who seek justice40. 21. Institutions with the potential for promoting and protecting minority rights remain weak. In 2016, a dedicated Ministry of Ethnic Affairs was established following the enactment of the Ethnic Rights Protection Law. According to the Government’s submission, the Ministry is engaged in a number of initiatives aimed to improve the situation of ethnic minorities including in the fields of language, education, culture and health, and is currently drafting a strategy for ethnic rights in Myanmar.41 While the Ministry is mandated to “effectively protect the rights of ethnic groups in accordance with the law” 42, and the law provides a mechanism through which violations of rights can be reported to State or Regional Ministerial Departments of Ethnic Affairs, its capacity appears limited and the availability of this remedy seems little known and seldom used. The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission lacks the necessary independence from the executive and has no members from minority communities.43 Although the General Administration Department has been transferred to a civilian ministry, the military-appointed and led Ministry of Border Affairs plays a key role in the administration of ethnic minority areas, including on matters of security and education. 22. One of the key objectives of the current peace process is to achieve greater devolution and federalism. The State and regional parliaments, which should provide greater representation for ethnic minorities, have a quota of 25 per cent for military members, like the Union Parliament, and generally lack significant powers44. In some States, the Chief Ministers have been appointed by the central Government instead of being from the winning ethnic party in the given State. In 2015, the Rohingya, who were eligible to vote in all postindependence elections, were stripped of their voting rights. No Muslims were selected to stand as candidates in the 2015 general election, and none have been appointed to leadership roles within the current administration45. With little transparency, voting was also cancelled in some areas which were deemed by the Union Election Commission to be insecure or conflict-affected, thereby disenfranchizing ethnic minority voters 46. f. Gender inequality 23. The situation of women and girls from minority groups is further marked by deeply entrenched gender inequality and patriarchal attitudes, in traditional culture and religious 37 Ibid. P. 148, Progressive Voice, op.cit. 39 http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs16/ICJ-MYANMAR-Right-to-Counsel-en-red.pdf 40 Ibid. 41 Ibid. 42 Permanent Mission of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations, Note Verbale, 24 January 2020 43 A/71/361, para. 14; https://www.ibanet.org/Document/Default.aspx?DocumentUid=DE0EE11D9878-4685-A20F-9A0AAF6C3F3E. 44 Article 161(d) 45 BHRN, 2018, para. 27, op.cit. 46 International Crisis Group “Peace and Electoral Democracy in Myanmar”, 2019, p. 12. 38 8