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Japan Plays a Diplomatic Double Game on Rights in Myanmar

Despite its official condemnation of the coup, Japan continues to move towards normalizing ties with the junta

Since the February 1 military coup in Myanmar, the junta’s security forces have killed nearly 1,300 people, arrested more than 10,000, and continue to detain nearly 7,400. The junta-controlled courts have sentenced 65 people to death, including 2…
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Myanmar: Protesters Targeted in March Massacre

Security Forces ‘Kettled’ Demonstrators, Fired on Rescuers in Hlaing Tharyar

(Bangkok) – Myanmar security forces deliberately “kettled” protesters and used lethal force during the March 14, 2021, anti-junta protests in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar township, Human Rights Watch said today. Soldiers and police armed with military…
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Myanmar: Protesters Targeted in March Massacre

Myanmar security forces deliberately encircled and used lethal force during the March 14, 2021 anti-junta protests in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar township, Human Rights Watch said today. Soldiers and police armed with military assault rifles fired on trapped…
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Myanmar Hlaing Tharyar 4 - Protesters under tarps

The video shows a group of protesters under a row of tarps about 35 meters from Bus Stop 3 who then disperse after tear gas is deployed. Credit: Unknown uploader. Verified by Human Rights Watch. 
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Myanmar Hlaing Tharyar 3 - Lone Htein riot police

Video filmed around noon in Yangon of Lone Htein riot police discussing their plans to use violence against protesters in Hlaing Tharyar. Video: Unknown uploader. Verified by Human Rights Watch.
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Myanmar Hlaing Tharyar 1 - Teargas and Gunfire

Video of teargas and gunfire coming from the west at Bus Stop 3 around 12:30 p.m., posted online on March 14, 2021. Credit: Unknown uploader. Verified by Human Rights Watch.
News

A Month of Fires in Thantlang, Myanmar

Satellite Imagery, Thermal Anomalies Data Show Numerous Burnings

Since October 29, numerous fires have severely damaged Thantlang, a remote town in Myanmar’s northwestern Chin State. The evidence from space is undeniable: residential homes, places of worship, commercial buildings, and more have been reduced to ash…
A screenshot of accumulated fire detections
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Letter from Human Rights Watch to Institutional Shareholders

Re: Energy Companies in Myanmar and Abuses by the Military Junta

October 20, 2021 We are writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch concerning ownership by your firm (or funds or entities under its control) of energy companies, including Total Energies, PTT (and its subsidiary PTTEP), Chevron, and POSCO, which are…
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Myanmar: Investors Should Act to Halt Funds to Junta

Revenues from Foreign Companies Keep Military in Power

(New York) – Payments by energy and extractive companies to entities under the control of the Myanmar military are providing key funds to sustain the junta and pose serious legal, financial, and reputational risks to investors in those companies.…
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Myanmar: Another Wave of Atrocity Crimes in Chin State

UN Security Council Must Act Now to End Junta’s Campaign of Terror

We, the undersigned 521 Myanmar, regional and international civil society organizations, call on the UN Security Council to urgently convene a meeting on the escalating attacks in Chin State, and address the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian, human…
Fires burn in the town of Thantlang in Chin State, Myanmar, October 29, 2021.
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Satellite Data Raise Fears Myanmar’s Army Setting Towns Ablaze

New satellite data analyzed by Human Rights Watch corroborates images and videos streaming out of Myanmar’s Chin State showing towns once again on fire. Human Rights Watch reviewed thermal anomaly data collected by an environmental satellite sensor…
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New Reports of Torture in Myanmar

Stronger International Pressure Needed to End Abuses

“They placed a plastic bag over my head to suffocate me. They did this three times…. They held mock executions.… They pointed a rifle at me and pulled the trigger repeatedly.” This is how a detainee in Myanmar, recently released after arrest for…
Aerial image of uniformed police officers detaining a protester
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Myanmar: Prisoner Releases Fall Short

Deposed Political Leaders and Journalists Remain Detained

(Bangkok) – The Myanmar junta’s recent prisoner releases are limited in scope and do not reflect a broader change in the military’s respect for human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. On October 18, 2021, the State Administrative Council…
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Fighting Fear Puts Myanmar Junta's Repression on Display

The Myanmar military’s February 1 coup sparked the largest and most widespread protests in the country's recent history, showing people’s determination not to be dragged back into a dark past of military dictatorship. The military responded…
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This Is What Impunity Looks Like

Myanmar’s Coup Built on Years of Failed Accountability

On August 1, Myanmar’s commander-in-chief, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, dressed in civilian clothes, made a televised speech six months to the day after leading a coup that thrust the country back under brutal military rule. Amid claims of establishing a…
Anti-coup protesters run from teargas deployed by the police during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, March 1, 2021.
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Paris Exhibition Puts Myanmar Junta's Repression on Display

Burmese Artists Send Message to France, Global Community to Address Rights

The Myanmar military’s February 1 coup sparked the largest and most widespread protests in the country's recent history, showing people’s determination not to be dragged back into a dark past of military dictatorship. The military responded with…
Installation of the exhibition Fighting Fear #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar Place du Palais Royal in Paris
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A Rohingya Refugee’s Search for Safety, Freedom, and Justice

August 25 is Observed as ‘Genocide Remembrance Day,’ but It Is Not Just the Story of a Single Day

Kabir, a Rohingya refugee, fled his village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25, 2017. But this was not the first time he had been forced to flee, nor the first time Myanmar soldiers had burned down his home. Nor is Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh…
Rohingya refugees walk through rice fields after crossing the border from Myanmar into Palang Khali, Bangladesh, October 19, 2017.
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Covid-19 Surge in Myanmar’s Prisons

Junta Packs Jails with Opponents as Virus Thrives

Myanmar’s Covid-19 crisis is spiraling out of control, as the coronavirus spreads among the most marginalized populations, including those in the country’s prisons. The escalation of politically motivated arrests since the February 1 military coup…
People stand outside the gates of a prison