Myanmar Coup Coverage

News

  • 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 »
  • Myanmar military government pardons thousands of prisoners
    The state-run Myanmar Radio and Television service reported on Sunday that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the military government, officially pardoned 6,134 prisoners, as well as at least 52 foreigners. Other prisoners received reduced sentences. The pardons marked the 78th anniversary of Myanmar’s independence from Britain, gained on… Read more »
  • UN expert urges UK to encourage international opposition to upcoming Myanmar election
    A UN Special Rapporteur on Friday released a report urging the UK government to condemn Myanmar’s upcoming military junta-orchestrated election that appears to be a “sham,” as well as to continue its support of human rights in the area. Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights… Read more »
  • UN warns planned Myanmar elections entrench repression and instability
    The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned on Friday that the Myanmar military junta’s planned elections could only worsen repression and instability rather than restore democracy. OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence described the elections, scheduled for December 28, as a military-controlled process conducted in an environment… Read more »
  • New Japan government urged to focus foreign policy on human rights
    Japan’s new government should prioritize human rights in its foreign policy, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday, calling on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to adopt stronger legal, diplomatic, and institutional measures to address abuses in Asia and globally. Japan is the only G7 country without sanctions targeting foreign officials implicated… Read more »
  • UN reports on neglected rights of disabled persons in Myanmar
    A new UN report on Thursday revealed how recent junta violence in Myanmar has violated the rights and devastated the lives of disabled persons living in the country.  UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said that discriminatory barriers for disabled persons have grown since… Read more »
  • HRW urges regional leaders to reject Myanmar ‘sham elections’ at upcoming summit
    Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday called on Southeast Asian and global leaders gathering for the ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur later this month to take a firm stand against Myanmar’s military junta and its plan to hold national elections in December, describing the process as… Read more »
  • Myanmar authorities convert Rohingya land into security facilities, UN report says
    The UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said Monday that Myanmar’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Border Guard Police (BGP), and private corporations have benefited from the destruction and dispossession of Rohingya property during the military’s 2017 operations in Rakhine State. In a public summary released on Monday, the IIMM… Read more »
  • Rohingya face potentially ‘catastrophic’ risks in premature return to Myanmar, Amnesty International warns
    Amnesty International on Monday cautioned against what it called a “dangerously premature” push to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, warning that repatriation under existing conditions in northern Rakhine State “could be catastrophic. The rights group warned of harrowing conditions that could face the returning Rohingya—a predominantly Muslim ethnic… Read more »
  • Rights group urges release of abducted Myanmar journalist
    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday urged Myanmar’s Arakan Army to release local reporter Mu Dra, who was recently abducted by the rebel forces. Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative, stressed: “All combatants in Myanmar’s civil war have a responsibility to protect and not target journalists in… Read more »

Commentary

  • 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 »
  • Release of Suu Kyi only a small step toward Myanmar democracy
    Paul Copeland [Advisory Council, Canadian Friends of Burma]: "Although I practice law in the city of Toronto, for the last 22 years I have been involved with the democracy movement in Burma (also known as Myanmar). I have visited three... The post Release of Suu Kyi only a small step… Read more »