United Nations Archives - Human Rights Myanmar

How the military blocked independent media during the 2025-6 elections

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This groundbreaking report uses big data to reveal how the military intensified internet blocking of independent media, social media platforms, and VPNs during the sham elections, aiming to prevent the public from accessing any independent reporting or communicating with each other.

Military elections fail 5 key international standards

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This report evaluates the 2026 Myanmar elections against international human rights law. The systematic audit across five legal pillars reveals a total collapse of international standards, characterised by State-sponsored coercion and structural disenfranchisement. This exercise was not a genuine election and the international community should make a principled rejection.

Impact of digital surveillance on civic space in Myanmar

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The military is weaponising surveillance to crush all civic space. AI-powered cameras and spyware are used to hunt journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists, while repressive new laws create a “rule by lawfare.” This digital dictatorship enables a high-tech war on women and criminalises the very act of seeking privacy.

AI undermines cultural life in Myanmar

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The military is weaponising Artificial Intelligence to dismantle cultural rights and undermine the right to development. By automating censorship, enforcing digital exclusion, and erasing minority identities, the military has created a digital dictatorship. This submission details how AI-driven repression violates international law and demands urgent global accountability.

The effect of digital repression on transitional justice in Myanmar

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Myanmar’s digital dictatorship creates significant barriers to transitional justice. While new technologies offer vital evidentiary tools, the military weaponises AI, biometric surveillance, and internet shutdowns to criminalise documentation and erase digital memory. This report to the UN calls for global evidence preservation protocols and digital restoration to protect the right to truth.

Civil rights approach to accountability and transitional justice in Myanmar

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Accountability is not only about punishing physical atrocities. It requires dismantling the structural machinery of oppression. This submission to the UN’s review explains that true justice in Myanmar involves restoring the rule of law and ensuring the protection of fundamental freedoms.

Myanmar’s human rights challenges for 2026

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International Human Rights Day offers an opportunity to examine fundamental rights in Myanmar and reflect on what may happen next year, in 2026. But before looking to 2026, Human Rights Myanmar’s previous predictions for 2025 are reviewed against reality.

UN review of “terrorism” should recognise Myanmar’s experience of State terror

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As the UN discusses the global definition of terrorism, Myanmar offers a crucial warning. Here, the State itself is the primary perpetrator of terror, yet it weaponises the law to label pro-democracy dissenters as “terrorists”. Our submission urges the UN to recognise this reality and prevent international laws from shielding State atrocities.

Gender equality, the digital space and AI in Myanmar

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The military is waging a high-tech war on women. Pro-military online groups dox women, publishing their private data and calling for their arrest. This “dox-to-arrest” pipeline is backed by an expanding network of AI-powered facial recognition cameras, which enables the military to track women. This systematic campaign violates women’s fundamental human rights to privacy, freedom…

Myanmar’s repressive use of AI to counter “terrorism”

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The military in Myanmar is engineering an artificial intelligence-powered digital dictatorship under the false pretext of national security and counter “terrorism”. This is not merely a collection of surveillance tools but a core component of the military’s campaign of repression, designed to automate and scale up atrocity crimes against the opposition.

Disinformation as a weapon in Myanmar

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Disinformation is a deliberate, state-sponsored tactic used to silence dissent, justify violence, and undermine human rights. Spread through military-controlled media and covert online networks, it distorts reality and fuels division. Harmful counter-measures often worsen repression, while weak responses from digital platforms allow falsehoods to thrive. Independent media and global cooperation are urgently needed to counter…

Risks of creative AI in Myanmar

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Global tech companies have repeatedly rolled out new digital applications in Myanmar without adequate due diligence, driving disinformation, hatred and enabling atrocity crimes. As AI now enables instant audio-visual creation, it is critical that companies adopt rigorous, rights-based safeguards to avoid repeating these errors.

Sex-based violence in Myanmar

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Myanmar’s military systematically uses sex-based violence to subjugate women and girls, intensifying since the 2021 coup. At least 380 women have been intentionally targeted and killed, some burned alive or executed in custody, while over 500 have faced sexual violence, including rape. This deliberate strategy, rooted in patriarchy and militarisation, aims to silence dissent and…

Hundreds of older people victims of military violence

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Older people in Myanmar are not spared from the conflict’s extreme violence. Since 2021, nearly 700 have been unlawfully killed. Military actions include horrific abuses like beheadings and being burned alive. Many, especially those with disabilities, are trapped and deliberately targeted. Alongside arbitrary detention of almost 500 and harsh sentences, these acts highlight a systematic assault. Urgent…

Military’s earthquake response: a crime against humanity?

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The devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on 28 March has wrought widespread destruction and immense human suffering, made far worse by the military’s response, which may constitute another crime against humanity.

Journalists under attack for defending Myanmar’s environment

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Myanmar journalists reporting on environmental degradation have faced systematic violence, arbitrary detention, and torture. Reporters investigating illegal mining, deforestation, and industrial pollution—vital to public health and democratic accountability—are deliberately targeted by the military and a manipulated justice system. This report highlights severe human rights abuses for the UN’s global review.

Chinese security companies exacerbate human rights violations in Myanmar

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The rise of Chinese private security companies in Myanmar will reshape conflict dynamics. This report to the UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries highlights how such companies are proxies for the Chinese State, importing authoritarianism, intensifying militarisation, undermining human rights, and exploiting legal loopholes to operate with impunity.

Killing, torture, and persecution of persons with disabilities in Myanmar

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Since Myanmar’s 2021 coup, at least 117 persons with disabilities (PWDs) have been killed by the military. Many PWDs have faced targeted violence and been disproportionately affected by indiscriminate human rights abuses. Those held in arbitrary detention have been subjected to extreme torture and widespread medical neglect. This report outlines some of the most serious…

Child rights violations in Myanmar’s conflict

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The military is responsible for widespread killings, detention, torture, and forced displacement of children, recruitment of child soldiers, and attacks on education. With over 1.4 million children displaced and millions deprived of basic rights, this report underscores the urgent need for international action to address crimes against humanity and protect Myanmar’s children.

Myanmar’s militarisation of education

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Myanmar’s schools have been systematically militarised, including by military occupation, destruction of infrastructure, and manipulation of the curriculum. These violations undermine children’s rights and safety. This report urges international action to protect education, ensure accountability, and support alternative learning initiatives amidst the ongoing crisis.

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