About adhikāra
Adhikāra (meaning “rights,” “authority,” or “prerogative” in the Sanskrit language) is an independent human rights repository devoted to reducing the barriers to human rights knowledge for the people of Burma concerning medium, language, and comprehension in the Spring revolution and in the post-revolution era. Adhikāra was established by a group that is comprised of several experienced human rights activists in June 2023 in exile after considering an organisation that would necessarily fill the gap in the human rights field by enhancing conceptual understanding of human rights, expanding knowledge platforms for the public, and strengthening practical human rights culture, especially during the interregnum and the Spring Revolution. Following the inception of the in-depth human rights podcast by three members in 2023, the team expanded into a human rights repository —comprising eight members with diverse gender, ethnic, and religious identities and areas of expertise that include human rights education, research, laws, conflict study, management, communication and digital engagement, — that currently produces human rights-related podcasts, translations, research reports and archive-based briefings. Adhikāra represents a combination of technology, media, knowledge, values and human resources to establish an interdisciplinary human rights repository that distributes human rights knowledge through possible channels both online and offline and has a library.
Vision
Adhikāra envisages a society for the people of Burma, where no one is structurally or based on his, her or their identity, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, residence or origin of country, colour, disability, language, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, and age, subject to discrimination in access to human rights knowledge while each member of the society is motivated and encouraged to acquire critical thinking, intellectual discourse, and philosophy.
Mission(s)
Adhikāra’s primary mission is to expand the boundary of limitations on human rights knowledge space, which has been significantly affected by the political situations and oppressions following the 2021 February coup d’état in Burma.
Adhikāra’s second mission is to instill an in-depth human rights discourse and human rights culture, and to strengthen the public’s crucial intellectual understanding of human rights philosophy.
Adhikāra’s ultimate mission for the long term is to provide human rights resources available in respective languages, not excluding marginalised and undocumented ethnic and linguistic groups in Burma or those originating from Burma.
Formation of the adhikāra Team
The Adhikāra team consists of human rights activists and pro-democracy youths with different backgrounds and identities, including ethnicity, mother language, origin of residence, religion, and gender.
The team had started as a human rights podcast group of three people – a human rights defender working on freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief, a female businessperson-turned-into a data archivist during the revolution, and an ethnic youth working in the journalism field, in June 2023. In February 2024, the team expanded into a human rights repository that archives and produces in-depth human rights content, including articles, research paper, graphics podcasts, videos based on archives, translation, and analysis in the face of reestablishment with new colleagues with legal expertise, profession of translation, ethnic minority rights and social media skills. Adhikāra has eight staff members, including unpaid voluntary members now.
Core Values
Core Values
Rights
Intellectuality
Inclusiveness
Integrity
Solidarity and Recognition of Autonomy
Humility
Diversity
Anti nepotism