February 02, 2023
Two years after the Myanmar military launched a coup on 1 February 2021, civil society organizations strongly condemn the ongoing human rights violations, and call for accountability and the restoration of a legitimate government. The attempted coup breached Myanmar’s constitution and international law, and was met with massive and largely spontaneous protests that illustrated the lack of meaningful support for the junta among the people of Myanmar. To date, sustained opposition among the population has denied the junta full control over the country, despite an escalation in brutality. There are many well-documented cases of the military committing atrocities, including strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In this context, human rights defenders are more vulnerable because of their work and their visibility, and their safety in both Myanmar and neighbouring countries continues to deteriorate.
As of 30 January 2023, local human rights monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), has documented a total of 2,901 killings, 17,525 arrests of political prisoners with 13,719 still detained, and a total of 101 individuals on death row, including at least nine women human rights defenders. The real number is likely several times higher, due to the difficulty of documenting facts on the ground. The Penal Code, particularly sections related to treason, defamation and statements causing public disorder, is being widely used by the military junta to curtail freedom of expression and stifle dissent.
The military’s use of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against detainees, including human rights defenders, political dissidents, journalists and civilian protesters, has been well documented. The executions of Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former member of the National League for Democracy, and prominent democracy activists Kyaw Min Yu, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw in July 2022, represented an escalation in the junta’s human rights violations to suppress pro-democracy movements.
Many human rights defenders in Myanmar have been forced into exile, where they continue to face numerous challenges. These range from the insecurity of living in refugee camps, to the fear of being tracked, arrested and deported back to Myanmar due to the lack of legal documents, and the challenges of ongoing trauma. Those human rights defenders who have valid travel documents face the impossibility of renewing their passports or requesting visa extensions in neighbouring countries once they expire.
Alongside human rights defenders, journalists are among those most at risk, as documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Many are detained under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code, an anti-state provision that broadly penalises “incitement” and “false news”, both ill-defined terms in law and arbitrarily interpreted by martial or military-influenced courts to hand down two- and three-year sentences.
The already dire situation of the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar has been further exacerbated in this context. As the military continues its violent campaign against any form of resistance, including by conducting airstrikes against ethnic areas and villages, over a million people have been displaced internally, and approximately 50,000 new refugees have fled to neighbouring countries as of November 2022. The attempted coup has also added to existing challenges to safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice in Myanmar. At the same time, all minority communities in Myanmar continue to bear the brunt of the junta’s ongoing violence in the country. The significant escalation of violence by the junta against ethnic communities in Myanmar bears hallmarks of the grave atrocities against Rohingya.
In this sense, the killing of Rohingya human rights defender and community leader Mohib Ullah, killed in Cox’s Bazar on 29 September 2021, is illustrative of the risks that many human rights defenders members of ethnic communities, incur.
On the 2nd anniversary of the coup, FORUM-ASIA, Front Line Defenders and ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) urge the international community to:
Signatories:
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Forum Asia
Front Line Defenders
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) was founded in June 2013 with the objective of promoting democracy and human rights across Southeast Asia. Our founding members include many of the region's most progressive Members of Parliament (MPs), with a proven track record of human rights advocacy work.