Report on Repressive Laws in Burma

By Info Birmanie • October 20, 2015

In spite of the reforms in Burma in recent years, the process of democratization has been called into question by the persistence of grave human rights violations and the absence of any significant progress on genuine democractic reforms, notably with regard to the process of legal reform. Nearly all of the old repressive laws are still in place; and new laws, presented as great democratic advances, do not conform to international human rights standards and do not guarantee the promised freedoms.

Even though hundreds of political prisoners were set free between 2011 and 2013, the government still continues to use a wide range of repressive laws in order to intimidate, arrest and imprison political activists, journalists and peaceful protesters. President Thein Sein made a commitment to European policymakers to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013. He has not fulfilled his promise. In fact, the number of political prisoners has increased by nearly 600% since the beginning of 2014. At the end of May 2015, at least 163 political prisoners were still locked up in Burmese prisons and 442 were awaiting their verdict.

Download the full report in English here.

Tags: 2008 Constitution, Article 109, Article 20, Article 59f, ASEAN, Crimes against humanity, Human Rights Violations, Info-Birmanie, Political Prisoners

This post is in: ASEAN, Crimes Against Humanity, Ethnic Nationalities, Human Rights, International Relations, Law, Military Regime, Political Prisoners, Resistance, Women

Report on Repressive Laws in Burma

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