Myanmar Coup Coverage

News

  • Rights groups call on new Bangladesh government to prioritize human rights
    Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday called on the newly elected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to use its recent electoral success as an opportunity to commit to enacting laws and policies that will provide lasting human rights protections. Following Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s election victory last month, HRW and eight other… Read more »
  • Myanmar parliament reconvenes for first time since military coup following contested election
    Myanmar’s parliament convened for the first time in five years Monday, marking a formal restoration of legislative proceedings in the country following widely contested national elections held by the military junta government. The reopening of the legislature has raised important legal questions regarding the constitutional framework of governance, the legality… Read more »
  • UN expert warns of fraying international system, repercussions in Myanmar
    The UN special rapporteur for Myanmar on Friday called on the UN Human Rights Council to increase human rights safeguards in junta-controlled country, contending that the cost of international inaction is a death sentence for millions. Rapporteur Tom Andrews spoke on continued disruptions to the international order and their repercussions,… Read more »
  • Myanmar military junta announces amnesty for 10,000 prisoners
    Myanmar state media announced Monday that the acting president of the ruling military junta has granted amnesty to more than 10,000 prisoners to commemorate a national holiday. The announcement reads that the amnesties were issued for the “peace of mind of the public” and to celebrate the Full Moon Day… Read more »
  • China executes 11 gang members linked to Myanmar scam compounds
    The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China announced a group execution Thursday that brought a landmark cross-border crime case to a close. The 11 ringleaders from the northern Myanmar Ming family criminal syndicate and its affiliated fraud groups have been executed. The 11 people executed had committed… Read more »
  • Rights groups decry escalating atrocities of Myanmar military junta
    Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Fortify Rights on Thursday jointly decried the Myanmar military junta’s widespread repression and rights abuses since claiming power in its 2021 coup.  The groups stated that the surge of rights violations is characterized by war crimes and crimes against humanity, which have escalated over… Read more »
  • Myanmar ‘ghost ships’ import fuel for air attacks, rights group says
    An Amnesty International investigation found that aviation fuel, used by the Myanmar military in the nation’s ongoing civil war, continues to enter the country on “ghost ships,” the group said Sunday. Amnesty reported at least nine separate shipments of aviation fuel delivered into the country in 2024 and 2025, uncovering… Read more »
  • Myanmar begins defense in ICJ genocide case, rejects all accusations
    Myanmar on Friday began its defense before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the ground-breaking genocide case brought by the Gambia, rejecting all allegations of genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority. Myanmar’s agent Ko Ko Hlaing emphasized Myanmar’s recognition of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the… Read more »
  • UN top court begins hearings into genocide of Rohingya population in Myanmar
    The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began proceedings Monday on charges of genocide concerning Myanmar’s persecution of its Rohingya population. The Gambia, bringing the case, will present its arguments until January 15, after which Myanmar will present its defense until January 20. The Gambia alleges that Myanmar’s armed forces, the… Read more »
  • ICJ to begin hearings on Rohingya genocide
    The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will begin hearings on the merits of the Rohingya genocide case on January 12, marking a crucial stage in the process of prescribing legal accountability for the atrocities that have taken place in Myanmar since 2016. In November 2019, The Gambia requested that the… Read more »

Commentary

  • Who Rules Myanmar? Five Years On, International Law Has No Clear Answer
    An estimated 89,000 lives lost; 30,000 arbitrary detentions; 3.4 million people displaced. In the five years since the February 2021 coup, these ever-rising figures have come to define Myanmar. From a legal standpoint, the military, operating as the State Administration Council (SAC), asserts de facto control through territorial occupation and… Read more »
  • The Rohingya Crisis in Court: A Guide to the ICJ Proceedings
    The ongoing Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is a significant humanitarian and legal challenge now before the International Court of Justice. The Gambia’s accusations of genocide have placed Myanmar’s conduct under close legal scrutiny, with the merits proceedings examining questions of state responsibility and accountability under international law. What is the… Read more »
  • Youth Caught in the Crossfire: The Devastating Impact of Myanmar’s Conscription Law
    For many of the world’s nations, domestic warfare is thought of as a thing of the past. Battlefields, mass killings, hostilities, guerrilla warfare, and wartime brutalities are little more than words in a textbook for much of the global population — a theoretical possibility that only currently affects distant populations.… Read more »
  • The Uphill Road to Peace Negotiations in Myanmar
    On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military ousted the nation’s democratically elected government. Almost two years on, conflict continues to plague Myanmar and its citizens. In some parts of the country, a handful of groups have taken up arms. Most notably, the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), the People Defense Forces (PDF),… Read more »
  • One Year After Military Coup, Myanmar Heads Nowhere
    It’s been one full year since Myanmar has come once again under military rule. Since the February 1, 2021 coup, the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation has attracted international media attention, but for the wrong reasons. The country, with a 60 million population of varied ethnicities, continues to witness public protests… Read more »
  • Folly Redux?: The Deeper Meanings of a Second Trump Presidency
    Credo quia absurdum. “I believe because it is absurd.” -Tertullian Macrocosm and Microcosm One thing is certain. If Donald J. Trump should decide to run again, various condemnations and justifications would instantly spring forth from absolutely every segment of the political spectrum. The deepest and truest explanations, however, would not… Read more »
  • Right to Life Encompasses Non-refoulement: Indian High Court Advances Refugee Policy
    In Nandita Haksar v. State of Manipur, decided May 3, 2021, the High Court of Manipur (an Indian state that borders Myanmar) granted seven Myanmarese citizens who had illegally entered India without documentation permission to approach the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Office in Delhi. This decision came… Read more »
  • International Sanctions Against Military Coups – Cure or Curse?
    On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup following the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders. The military, in an announcement on the military-owned channel “Myawaddy,” declared that Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto civilian leader of the country, had… Read more »
  • The Constitutional Fiction of Myanmar’s Coup
    Constitutions don’t always matter much in a coup. But the 2008 Constitution matters to Myanmar’s coup of 1 February. The military has created a constitutional fiction about the coup in a thin attempt to claim legality for its actions. I explain the legal disputes that the military claims are the… Read more »
  • Will Myanmar Comply with Provisional Measures in Gambia v. Myanmar?
    Introduction On November 11, 2019 The Gambia submitted an application against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging that Myanmar had violated its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). The representation made by The Gambia as a… Read more »