On September 16, the military's Office of the Advocate General announced to the judge that it was "investigating possible broader patterns of violations in the region of northern Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017." The announcement came after the publication of a report by a government-appointed commission on violence in the region, which found that security forces had committed war crimes (see Section 5, Government Human Rights Bodies). Arbitrary Arrest: There were reports of arbitrary arrests, including detention by the military in conflict areas. The military and the government exerted direct and indirect influence on the outcome of the cases.
The government continued to detain and arrest journalists, activists and critics of the government and the military. Fierce fighting between the army and the AA displaced tens of thousands of civilians and resulted in civilian casualties and credible reports of military abuses. An increase of 60,000 in 12 months in Rakhine and Chin states was due to fighting between the AA and the army.
Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
The government offered three public channels: two controlled by the Ministry of Information and one by the military; Authorities prevented journalists from entering the northern state of Rakhine except on government-organized tours whose participants reported being tightly controlled and designed to advance the government's narrative. The government continued to use visa issuance and shortening the validity period of visas to monitor foreign journalists, especially those not based in the country.
Slander/defamation laws: A criminal defamation clause in the telecommunications law has been frequently used to limit freedom of expression; charges have been brought against journalists, activists and ordinary citizens who are considered critics of the government and the military. National Security: In March, the government and military designated the Arakan Army as a terrorist organization and an illegal association under the law. The government censored online content, restricted access to the Internet, and continued to persecute Internet users for criticizing the government and military and their policies and actions.
The telecommunications law contains broad provisions that give the government the power to temporarily block and filter content, based on “benefit of the. According to Freedom, the government's social media monitoring team continued to monitor internet communications without clear legal authority. The constitution provides for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, but the government has restricted these rights.
In addition to direct government action, the government's failure to investigate or prosecute attacks on human rights. The government restricted the movement of internally displaced persons and stateless persons and restricted their access to health services, employment opportunities, safe shelter and education. Residents of ethnic minority countries reported that the government restricted the travel of internally displaced persons and stateless persons.
Access to asylum: The law does not allow for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has not established a system to provide protection to refugees.
Freedom to Participate in the Political Process
Many Rohingya expressed the need for more assurances about the results of the process, as well as fear that after submitting their old documents, they will not be issued new documents. Many said they were already citizens and expressed fear that the government would either not confirm their citizenship or would grant some form of lesser citizenship, thereby formalizing their lack of rights. Rohingya in Rakhine state had to identify as "Bengali" to apply for NVCs, while some Muslims from other ethnic groups had to identify as "Bengalis" to apply for citizenship verification cards in other parts of the country.
Most potential Muslim candidates were disqualified from running in the November 8 general election by electoral authorities or blocked by their parties from running, apparently on discriminatory grounds. Almost all members of the Rohingya community, many of whom voted before 2015, were disenfranchised and barred from running for office. The government denied the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya of voting age in Rakhine state or refugee camps in Bangladesh.
New political parties were generally allowed to register and compete in elections with fewer restrictions than in 2015 on party organization and voter mobilization. Systematic support for the Development Party by the military, whose personnel and their families have been able to vote in advance without observers present, in some cases in barracks, despite a May change to electoral law requiring soldiers to vote at public polling stations on the day. Participation of women and members of minorities: No law restricts the participation of women and members of minorities in the political process and they have participated.
For example, in some municipal elections, the vote was divided at the household level, where only one member, usually the male head of the household, was allowed to vote for the entire household. Ethnic minority parliamentarians from ethnic minority political parties accounted for less than 9 percent of legislators at the national, state and regional levels; this did not include the many ethnic minority members of the LLD or the Union Party for Solidarity and Development (see Recent Elections above for Muslim and Rohingya participation).
Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
The election commission, appointed by the ruling party, censored opposition party broadcasts on state television. Despite this, women and minority groups were still underrepresented in government, and politics limited participation in practice. The Act requires the Speaker and Deputy Speakers to submit a list of family assets to the Speaker of the Houses of Commons and to the House of Commons.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights
In January, the International Court of Justice unanimously ordered the government to preserve all evidence of atrocities against the Rohingya; ensure that government and security officials refrain from any action that could contribute to genocide; and reports to the court on its progress on these measures in May and every six months thereafter. The court's order followed a 2019 lawsuit by The Gambia, which alleged that Myanmar violated the Genocide Convention when it committed atrocities against the Rohingya; inability to prevent and punish genocide; and the commitment continued. International human rights organizations continued to claim that the country was still in breach of its obligations.
The committee has the power to conduct independent investigations and in some cases called on the government to investigate abuses. The Independent Commission of Inquiry for Rakhine State, formed by the government in 2018, released only the summary of its final report on January 21. It described the actions of government security forces in Rakhine state in 2017 as largely in response to a mass uprising. by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and attempted to frame the 2017 violence as part of an armed conflict with Rohingya.
The report claimed that genocide did not take place and denied the existence of any credible reports of rape and sexual violence.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons Women
In April, the Myanmar Times reported the observation by Daw Htar, founder of the NGO Akhaya Women Myanmar, that during the two weeks when the government began community lockdowns in some areas, there was an increase in domestic violence complaints compared to the period before the lockdown. Sexual harassment: The law prohibits sexual harassment and imposes a maximum of one year in prison and a fine for verbal harassment and a maximum of two years in prison and a fine for physical contact. The law allows the government to impose stricter birth spacing requirements — 36 months between children — if the president or the national government designates "special regions" for health care based on factors such as population, migration rates, natural resources, birth rates , and food availability.
Discrimination: Under the law women enjoy the same legal status and rights as men, including property and inheritance rights and religious and personal status, but it was not clear that the government enforced the law. The law requires equal pay for equal work, but it was not clear that the formal sector respected this requirement. Birth registration: The law automatically granted full citizenship to children of two parents from one of the 135 recognized national ethnic groups and to children who met other citizenship requirements.
In addition, the government grants full citizenship to second-generation children of both parents with some citizenship, as long as at least one parent has full citizenship. The government continued to allocate minimal resources to public education and schools charged informal fees. Protesters raised concerns about the transparency of the process, and in July 2019, Win Ko Ko Thein, the leader of an online protest campaign, was arrested over Facebook posts that "defamiliarized" the police officers investigating the case.
The law prohibits child pornography and specifies a minimum penalty of two years imprisonment and a modest fine. The law directs the government to ensure that persons with disabilities have easy access to public transport.
Worker Rights
Although the law nominally decriminalizes drug use, possession of small amounts of illegal drugs still leads to lengthy prison sentences. The law provides for voluntary registration for local NGOs, including NGOs working on labor issues. The law gives trade unions the right to represent workers, to bargain and bargain collectively with employers and to send representatives to a conciliation body or conciliation court.
The law does not contain more detailed measures regarding the management of the negotiation process, such as The law stipulates that disputes in special economic zones are resolved in accordance with the original contracts and applicable legislation. The law does not allow strikes or lockouts of basic services such as water, electricity or health services.
Labor organizations also reported that local labor offices imposed unnecessary bureaucratic requirements for union registration that were in violation of the law. The law prohibits employees under the age of 16 from working in a hazardous environment, and the government has drawn up a hazardous work list. The law also stipulates that an employee's total working hours must not exceed 11 hours per day (including overtime and a one-hour break).
The law requires employers to pay employees on the payday for companies with 100 or fewer employees. The law does not give inspectors the authority to conduct unannounced inspections or initiate sanctions.
