Myanmar’s “new” government has not led to any improvements in transparency since the 2025-26 contested elections. On International Right to Know Day, 28 September 2026, Myanmar’s public still lacks reliable, comprehensive, and accessible information about basic matters of public interest, including public finances, corporate ownership, judicial decisions, the conflict, and displacement.
The following five examples illustrate some of the most basic information that would be available to the public in other countries, but remains difficult, if not impossible, to obtain in Myanmar.
1. The national budget
The Myanmar public does not have access to information on how much money the State receives, where that money comes from, and what it is spent on.
Transparency in public finances is an established international standard. The UN Convention against Corruption requires States like Myanmar to promote transparency and accountability in the management of public finances, including procedures for adopting the national budget and reporting on public revenue and expenditure. It also requires transparent systems for public procurement.
A national budget that is unavailable, incomplete, or inaccessible prevents the public from assessing how public resources are being raised and used.
2. The company register
The public does not have access to information on who owns, controls, and ultimately benefits from companies operating in Myanmar.
The State maintains the Myanmar Companies Online (MyCO) registry, which describes itself as a public registry of companies and entities registered under the Myanmar Companies Law. However, shortly after the 2021 coup, the military began restricting public access to most information held by MyCo. A meaningful system of corporate transparency requires more than the existence of a company name and registration number. International standards increasingly require States to ensure access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date information on the natural persons who ultimately own or control legal entities.
This information is essential where companies exercise economic power, control significant assets or resources, or have relationships with public authorities.
3. Court decisions and case records
The public does not have access to information on who has been prosecuted, for what offence, on what legal basis, and what the court decided.
Publicity is a fundamental element of the right to a fair trial, including public hearings and judgments, subject to strictly defined exceptions. The UN Human Rights Committee has further clarified that even where the public is excluded from a hearing, the essential findings, evidence, and legal reasoning of the judgment must generally be made public.
Without accessible case records and judicial decisions, the public cannot effectively scrutinise the administration of justice or assess whether judicial power is being exercised consistently with human rights.
4. A record of people killed
The public does not have access to information on who has been killed in repression and conflicts since the coup, where and when they were killed, how they died, and, where established, by whom.
While independent organisations are monitoring killings, international humanitarian law requires parties to an armed conflict to record information concerning people who die, including information that assists with identification and establishes the date, place and cause of death. International standards also recognise the right of victims and their families, and the wider community in cases of gross violations, to know the truth about what occurred and who was responsible.
Reliable information about those killed is therefore not simply a matter of statistics. It is part of accountability, the right to truth and respect for the dignity of victims.
5. Information on displacement
The public does not have access to information on how many Myanmar people have been displaced due to repression and conflict since the coup, where displaced populations are located, and what assistance they are receiving.
The UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement recognise the primary responsibility of national authorities to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons. The UN has also repeatedly emphasised the importance of relevant, reliable, timely and disaggregated data on internal displacement in order to inform effective, rights-based responses.
Where information about displacement is unavailable or incomplete, it becomes difficult to assess whether displaced people are receiving the protection, assistance and services to which they are entitled.
Conclusion
Access to information is not an optional feature of government. It is an essential element of the protection of human rights, transparency and accountability. As the UN has recognised, only when people know how they are governed can they effectively hold public authorities accountable for their decisions and actions.
A civilian government is not defined simply by the uniforms worn by those in power, or by the holding of an election. It is also defined by whether people can know how power is exercised in their name. If these basic facts remain hidden from the public, the culture of secrecy remains.