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Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to opinion and expression (commentary)
Legal analysis, press statements etc. on Burmese laws related to freedom of opinion and expression
Myanmar: UN decides imprisonment of Saffron Revolution leader Gambira contravenes UDHR
"On 3 November 2016, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention published its long-awaited decision that the Myanmar government’s repeated detention of Saffron Revolution protest leader, and former monk, Gambira, was arbitrary and in contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights..."
"...Disposition: 35. In the light of the foregoing, the Working Group renders the following opinion: The deprivation of liberty of Mr. Gambira was arbitrary, being in contravention with Articles 10 and 13 of the UDHR; it falls within category II of the categories applicable to the consideration of the cases submitted to the Working Group. 36. Consequent upon the opinion rendered, the Working Group requests the Government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Mr. Gambira and bring it into conformity with the standards and principles set forth in the UDHR. 37. The Working Group believes that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, including the release of Mr. Gambira, the adequate remedy would be to accord him an enforceable right to compensation..."
United Nations - Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
"They Can Arrest You at Any Time" - The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Burma
Summary: "While the country is more open than before, the people’s rights are being neglected. They can arrest you at any time under these laws. There is no guarantee. –Pang Long, attorney, Rangoon, January 2016 The past five years have been a time of liberalization and change in Burma. The abolition of prior censorship and a loosening of licensing requirements has led to a vibrant press, and the shift from formal military rule has emboldened civil society. The change has not been without conflict, however, and, under President Thein Sein, those who embraced the new freedoms to vocally criticize the government or military too often found themselves arrested and in prison. The backlash against critics was facilitated by a range of overly broad and vaguely worded laws that violate internationally protected rights to expression and peaceful assembly, some dating from the British colonial era, some enacted under successive military juntas, and others the products of reform efforts, or ostensible reform efforts, by the Thein Sein government. This report examines how Burmese governments have used and abused these laws and the ways in which the laws themselves fall far short of international standards. It sets forth a series of concrete recommendations to the new Burmese government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), aimed at dismantling the inherited legal infrastructure of repression..."
pdf (863K-full report, reduced version; 1MB-full report, original)
Myanmar: Broadcasting Law 2015 - legal analysis
Executive summary: "Myanmar’s newly adopted Broadcasting Law retains the president’s power to control the broadcasting sector. It creates a legal framework without safeguards for media independence and continues the government-run media – a type of media normally only found in authoritarian states. The law will quickly become out-dated as it fails to deal with the digitisation of broadcasting, which has happened in all of Myanmar’s neighbours. Democracy requires an independent media to enable the free flow of information and ideas to the public so that individuals can make better decisions that affect their lives, and the authorities can be held to account. Radio and television broadcasters are vital in the dissemination of reliable, pluralistic information to the whole population, including to inaccessible or marginalised communities, in a language that they understand. In contrast to the printed media, where there is no natural limitation on the number of possible publications and therefore no democratic need to regulate, international standards require the regulation of broadcasting to ensure that the limited spectrum of available channels are democratically distributed. As such, the Broadcasting Law which was adopted in August 2015 is a welcome step as it replaces a previously arbitrary process of regulation under which only a few state-controlled or government-linked channels exist, with a proper legal system. The Broadcasting Law includes some positive aspects, such as recognition of the basic principles of freedom of expression and media pluralism, and of the fundamental principles of fairness, transparency and participatory processes needed to develop further media policy. The Law also offers a basis for the development of independent regulation, and includes a balanced allocation between public service media, commercial broadcasters and community media. However, the Law has several substantial areas of concern that will significantly undermine the freedom and independence of the media. In this analysis, ARTICLE 19 makes a number of recommendations, key of which are:..."
"...In Rangoon, on 4 March 2015 police together with members of a civilian gang attacked over a hundred workers protesting for higher wages and better conditions at the Shwepyithar industrial zone in the city’s north, and took over of dozen into custody, after the labour ministry had described the workers as “riotous” and had, in the manner of the thugs sent out to beat them up, crudely threatened the workers with violence. The following day, the police and civilians with red armbands attacked a small group of demonstrators gathered outside the Rangoon town hall in support of student protesters encamped at Letpadan, north of the city, calling for amendments to the national education law. Video footage posted on YouTube by the Democratic Voice of Burma shows members of the gang in a melee with protestors before police surge in with batons, pulling some onto waiting vehicles and clearing out the area. Then, on March 10 the police also broke up the student protest camp at Letpadan with the use of barely restrained violence, officially arresting 127 students. The details of the attack are still emerging; however, according to some accounts there too non-police personnel were among those involved in the crackdown. Again, DVB has posted footage on YouTube showing scenes of utter chaos as policemen assault protestors everywhere and smash up vehicles standing idle and unoccupied to the sound of announcements over loudspeakers that the assembly was illegal and that for “the rule of law and community peace” the home affairs ministry was taking action under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code to disperse it..."
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
24 April 2015
BURMA/MYANMAR: Villagers still without remedy for police attack on protestors
Date of publication:
13 February 2015
Description/subject:
"...As describe in the original appeal (AHRC-UAC-117-2014), the farmers from Singu Township, Mandalay Region had been beaten and shot during peaceful protest for the grabbed lands. The farmers protested several times since June. However, on 14 August 2014, police with guns and shields came to the village without giving any information to the Village Administrative Officer. They attacked the protesters, injuring some villagers and one woman was shot. During the following six months, the courts have made no progress in pursuing prosecution. According to the latest information received, although the police claimed that they were supposed to arrest 15 villagers who were sent summons, they could neither show arrest warrant nor official information that should have been given to the village authorities. This is similar to the method by which they fired their guns; to do so they need permission from a township judge, but instead they relied only the command of the Singu Township Police Force Commander, Soe Win for justification. At the request of all the villagers and victims, a local elder made a first information report at Latpanhla police station in September to open a case against the police. However, the police station didn't take any action nor did they fill the police station form (A)(B),instead, they instructed him to go straight to a court. The plaintiff lodged a case against the police personnel in Singu Township Court. The township judge said the case was improper because it was not opened by victims and dismissed the case on summary judgment on 3 November 2014 finding. Pyinoolwin District Court reached the same conclusion. The case is now in Mandalay Regional High Court and appears to be stalled. The villagers' rights are threatened by forcing them to live in fear, and depriving them of remedy for their lost lands..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Human Rights Commission
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
24 April 2015
BURMA/MYANMAR: Writer charged with insulting religion for speech about Buddhism
Date of publication:
15 January 2015
Description/subject:
"...Htin Lin Oo is an author who was also an information officer of the National League for Democracy (NLD). He spoke at a literary event in Sagaing Region in upper Burma on 23 October 2014 about Buddhism and nationalism. He claimed that there are good and bad people in every religion so no one can say that which religion is good or bad. Some Buddhist people didn't follow Buddha's words and do whatever they want under the umbrella of Buddhism. He excoriated those who use Buddhism as a tool of extreme nationalism and criticised other religions or discriminate against them. True Buddhism has no place for extremism, he added. His speech was nearly two hours long, but an excerpt of 10 minutes out of the 2 hours of his speech was spread on Facebook. A group of monks released a statement claiming that his speech was insulting Buddhism. Nine political parties and nationalist groups also released statements condemning the event organiser, NLD, and Htin Lin Oo, who they accused of insulting Buddhism and creating a big problem by taking religion into political matters. They asked for serious action to be taken against him. On November 18, NLD said Htin Lin Oo speech was his own idea which wasn't concern about the party and he was no longer information officer of the party..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Human Rights Commission
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
24 April 2015
BURMA/MYANMAR: Police under army command shot a farmer to death during a peaceful protest
Date of publication:
12 January 2015
Description/subject:
"...On 22 December 2014, Daw Khin Win, 57, was shot to death by the police under command of army officers who were cracking down on a public protest by local people at the site of the Letpadaung copper mine pro-ject. Workers for the companies— China's Wanbao and the Burmese military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd (UMEHL)—were fencing disputed land. On the day the incident happened, Daw Khin Win went to look after her 7 acres of fields which were confiscated. Several others who were with her were also injured. AHRC-UAC-001-2015-01.jpgAround 10 a.m. that day, three groups of the companies' workers started fencing around Saete village in the west, east and northwest. The villagers tried to protect their lands as they refused compensation, so they peacefully protested against the confiscation in those three areas. However, their lands and crops were destroyed by bulldozer. During the confrontation between police and villagers, police fired at the villagers using live bullets. One of the villagers, Daw Khin Win, was shot to death and her body was taken to Salingyi Township Hospital. Others who were injured were afraid to go to hospital because they thought they would be arrested. More police were stationed to protect the fencing workers, and the farmers couldn't do anything at all. Finally, the farmers went back to their villages around 4 p.m..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Human Rights Commission
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
24 April 2015
Myanmar: Printing and Publishing Law (legal analysis by Article 19)
Date of publication:
11 November 2014
Description/subject:
Executive summary: In 2014, ARTICLE 19 analysed the 2014 Printing and Publishing Law of Myanmar in the light of international standards on freedom of expression. The Ministry of Information unveiled a draft of the Law in 2013, in a move that took observers by surprise. Responsibility to develop a law to replace the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law had previously been entrusted to the Interim Media Council. The Law was adopted and signed by the President in 2014. The Printing and Publishing Law (the Law) represents a step forward compared to the draconian 1962 law. It no longer facilitates prior censorship, and the penalties imposable under it are relatively modest. Oversight over the printing and publishing sector has been partly transferred from the government to the courts. At the same time, it is questionable whether a specific law to regulate the printing and publishing sector is needed at all. ARTICLE 19 is not convinced that the Printing and Publishing Law will contribute to its stated goals of promoting freedom of expression and supporting the development of a vibrant printing and publishing sector. Its primary effect is to create a series of bureaucratic formalities with which companies in the sector must comply, such as registering with the Ministry of Information and sending it information on imports and exports of publications. While these procedures are less problematic than those under the 1962 law, it is not clear why they are necessary. Vague definitions of what constitutes a “printer,” “publisher” or “news agency” create confusion as to whom the Law applies to, and similarly vague restrictions on the content of publications risk having a chilling effect... Summary of key recommendations: •The stated goal of the Law to ensure “ethical” practices and compliance with “relevant laws” should be dropped and replaced with a more substantive guarantee for freedom of the media • The requirement to register should be abolished entirely. If the requirement to register is not abolished, the registration procedure should be amended and set out clearly within the Law itself. Those whose registration has been suspended or cancelled should have the right to appeal to a court • The content restrictions listed should be removed and dealt with using laws of general application, such as the penal code. If they are not removed, they should be defined more clearly and narrowly in line with international standards •The requirement to notify import and export of publications should be abolished entirely.
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
pdf (114K-reduced version; 290K-original)
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37765/14-11-11-LA-print-publishing.pdf
Date of entry/update:
30 December 2014
Background paper on freedom of expression in Myanmar - လြတ္လပ္စြာထုတ္ေဖာ္ေျပာဆုိခြင့္အေျခအေနေျပာင္းလဲမႈေဖာ္ေဆာင္ျခင္း
Date of publication:
23 July 2014
Description/subject:
"...The paper briefly looks at the key laws in Myanmar that affect people’s freedom to seek and share information and ideas – whether that is through the media, in everyday conversations, on the Internet, or in demonstrations in the street. For each law, ARTICLE 19 briefly points out where the main obstacles are to protecting and promoting the right to freedom of expression. It explains what international human rights law requires the government to do – or not do – in a certain area, in order to respect, protect and fulfil the right to freedom of expression..."
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37630/background-paper.pdf
Date of entry/update:
24 July 2014
Beginners’ guide to content restriction အေၾကာင္းအရာကန္႔သတ္ခ်က္ဆိုင္ရာ ေယဘုယ်စည္းမ်ဥ္းမ်ား
Date of publication:
23 July 2014
Description/subject:
ARTICLE 19 launched this beginners’ guide as part of our work on reform in Myanmar. It is part of a series of such guides which are available at www.article19.org လြတ္လပ္စြာထုတ္ေဖာ္ေျပာဆိုခြင့္ႏွင့္ပတ္သတ္ေသာ နိုင္ငံတကာစံႏႈန္းမ်ား 5 International standards on the right to free expression အေၾကာင္းအရာကန္႕သတ္ခ်က္ဆိုင္ရာေယဘုယ်စည္းမ်ဥ္းမ်ား 13 General rules on content restrictions အေၾကာင္းအရာကန္႔သတ္ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္မႈ၏ သီးျခားအမႈမ်ား 18 Specific cases of content restriction အသေရဖ်က္ျခင္း 19 Defamation အမိ်ဳးသားလံုျခံဳေရးကာကြယ္ေရး၊လူထုျငိမ္၀ပ္ပိျပားေရးႏွင့္လူထုလံုျခံဳ စိတ္ခ်ေရး 33 Protection of national security, public order, public safety အမုန္းတရားျဖစ္ရန္လႈံ႕ေဆာ္ျခင္း 40 Incitement to hatred ဘာသာေရးကုိေစာ္ကားေသာ(ဘုရားသခင္ကိုဆဲဆိုေသာစကား)ကိုထိန္းခ်ုဳပ္သည့္ဥပေဒ 53 Blasphemy laws သတင္းမွား 58 False news ျပည္သူ႕နီတိ 62 Public morals ကိုယ္ပိုင္လြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ 67 Privacy
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37633/beginners-guides-to-content-restrictions.pdf
Date of entry/update:
25 July 2014
Beginners’ guide to freedom of expression laws - အေျခခံအဆင့္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာလူ႔အခြင့္အေရးဥပေဒလမ္းၫႊန္
Date of publication:
23 July 2014
Description/subject:
ျမန္မာျပည္ ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲေရးဆိုင္ရာ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္အျဖစ္ ၂၀၁၂ တြင္ အေျခခံအဆင့္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး ဥပေဒ လမ္းညႊန္စာအုပ္ကို ထုတ္ေ၀ခဲ့သည္။ ဤလမ္းညႊန္ စာအုပ္တြင္ လြတ္လ ပ္စြာထုတ္ေဖာ္ေျပာဆုိင္ခြင့္ကို ေလးစားရန္၊ ကာကြယ္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ရန္ႏွင့္ ျမင့္တင္ရန္ အစိုးရ မ်ား လုပ္ေဆာင္ရမည့္အရာ၊ မလုပ္ေဆာင္သင့္သည့္အရာမ်ား ကို ရွင္းျပထားသည္။ ARTICLE 19 launched this beginners’ guide as part of our work on reform in Myanmar. It is part of a series of such guides which are available at www.article19.org Regulating print media 3 ပံုႏွိပ္မီဒီယာကို စည္းမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း Regulating journalists 13 သတင္းေထာက္မ်ားကို စည္းမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း Regulating the internet 27 အင္တာနက္ကို စည္းမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း Regulating broadcast media 37 ရုပ္သံလြင့္မီဒီယာကို စီးမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း Regulating film 49 ရုပ္ရွင္ကိုထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခငး္ Regulating freedom of assembly 53 ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းစြာစုေ၀ျခင္း Regulating assess to public information 61 အမ်ားျပည္သူဆိုင္ရာသတင္းအခ်က္အလက္မ်ား ရယူျခင္း
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/37632/en/beginners%E2%80%99-guide-to-freedom-of-exp...
Date of entry/update:
25 July 2014
Myanmar: News Media Law - legal analysis (English)
Date of publication:
18 July 2014
Description/subject:
Executive summary: "This analysis examines the compliance of the 2014 News Media Law of Myanmar with international standards on freedom of expression and media freedom. The News Media Law introduces some guarantees for media freedom, such as the prohibition of censorship and the recognition of specific rights of media workers. This may be seen as a positive attempt to begin dismantling the extensive apparatus of censorship in the country, and the government should be encouraged to build upon the positive elements of the Law. However, ARTICLE 19 remains seriously concerned with shortcomings in the law. The safeguards for media freedom are heavily qualified and insufficient to meet international standards. All types of media, including print, broadcast and Internet- based media, remain under the unrestricted control of the government through the Media Council. The Media Council is not independent from government, and therefore fails to sufficiently safeguard the media from the application of content-based criminal laws that, while not imposing custodial sentences, still unjustifiably limit freedom of expression. ARTICLE 19 calls on the Myanmar authorities to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and comprehensively reform the News Media Law in order to ensure its compliance with international st andards on freedom of expression."
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37623/News-Media-Law-Myanmar-EN.pdf
Date of entry/update:
21 July 2014
Myanmar: News Media Law - legal analysis - ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံသတင္းမီဒီယာဥပေဒ
Date of publication:
18 July 2014
Description/subject:
ယခုသုံးသပ္မႈသည္ ၂၀၁၄ ခုႏွစ္တြင္ျပဌာန္းခဲ့သည့္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ၏သတင္းမီဒီယာဥပေဒသည္ ႏုိင္ငံတကာလြတ္လပ္စြာ ေဖာ္ျပေျပာဆုိခြင့္၊ သတင္းလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ဆုိင္ရာစံႏႈန္းမ်ားႏွင့္ ကုိက္ညီမႈရွိ-မရွိကုိ စိစစ္သုံးသပ္ထားျခင္းျဖစ္ပါသည္။ သတင္းမီဒီယာဥပေဒအေနျဖင့္ သတင္းမီဒီယာလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ကုိ တစ္စုံတစ္ရာ အစပ်ဳိးခြင့္ျပဳထားပါသည္။ ဥပမာအားျဖင့္ - ဆင္ဆာစိစစ္တည္းျဖတ္မႈကုိ တားျမစ္ထားျခင္း၊ "သတင္းမီဒီယာသမားမ်ား" ၏ တိက်ေသာ အခြင့္အေရးမ်ားကုိ အသိအမွတ္ျပဳထားျခင္းတုိ႔ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ ဤသည္မွာ အျပဳသေဘာလုပ္ေဆာင္မႈအျဖစ္ ရႈျမင္ႏုိင္ၿပီး၊ ႏုိင္ငံအတြင္း အက်ယ္အျပန္႔ က်င့္သုံးေနသည္ ဆင္ဆာစိစစ္တည္းျဖတ္မႈ ယႏၱယားမ်ားကုိ စတင္ၿဖိဳဖ်က္ခ်လုိက္ျခင္းပင္ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ သုိ႔ျဖစ္ရာ ျမန္မာအစုိးရအေနျဖင့္ ယခုဥပေဒ၏ အျပဳသေဘာေဆာင္ေသာ ျပဌာန္းခ်က္မ်ားမွေန၍ ဆက္၍တည္ေဆာက္သြားပါရန္လည္း တုိက္တြန္းလုိပါသည္။ သုိ႔ေသာ္လည္း၊ ပုဒ္မ (၁၉) ARTICLE 19 အဖြဲ႔အေနျဖင့္ ဥပေဒ၏လုိအပ္ခ်က္မ်ားအေပၚ ႀကီးေလးစြာစုိးရိမ္ပူပန္မႈမ်ားရွိေနပါသည္။ သတင္းမီဒီယာလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္အေပၚ ကာကြယ္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္မႈေပးျခင္းမွာ အရည္အေသြးမ်ားစြာျမင့္တက္လာေသာ္လည္း၊ ႏုိင္ငံတကာစံႏႈန္းမ်ားကုိ ျပည့္မီျခင္းမရွိေသးပါ။ ပုံႏွိပ္၊ ထုတ္လႊင့္ႏွင့္ အင္တာနက္အေျခခံ မီဒီယာမ်ား အပါအ၀င္ မီဒီယာအမ်ဳိးအမည္အားလုံးတုိ႔သည္ သတင္းမီဒီယာေကာင္စီ၏ တင္းက်ပ္စြာခ်ဳပ္ခ်ယ္မႈမဟုတ္ေသာ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္မႈတစ္စုံတစ္ရာေအာက္၌ ရွိေနၾကဆဲျဖစ္ပါသည္။ ယင္းသတင္းမီဒီယာေကာင္စီ၏သည္ အစုိးရႏွင့္ သီးျခားလြတ္လပ္ေနျခင္းမရွိပါ။ သုိ႔အတြက္ေၾကာင့္ အေၾကာင္းအရာအေပၚ အေျခခံ၍ ရာဇ၀တ္မႈဥပေဒမ်ားျဖင့္ အသုံးခ် အေရးယူႏုိင္သည့္အတြက္၊ သတင္းမီဒီယာမ်ားကုိ လုံေလာက္စြာ ကာကြယ္မႈ ေပးႏုိင္ျခင္းမရွိပါ။ ယင္းေကာင္စီက ဆုံးျဖတ္၍ အျပစ္ေပး အေရးယူမႈမ်ားျပဳႏုိင္ျခင္းမရွိေသာ္လည္း၊ က်ဳိးေၾကာင္းခုိင္လုံမႈမရွိဘဲ လြတ္လပ္စြာေဖာ္ျပေျပာဆုိခြင့္ကုိ ကန္႔သတ္ျခင္းမ်ားရွိေနဆဲ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ ပုဒ္မ (၁၉) ARTICLE 19 အဖြဲ႔က ျမန္မာအာဏာပုိင္မ်ားအေနျဖင့္ အျပည္ျပည္ဆုိင္ရာ ႏုိင္ငံသားအခြင့္အေရးႏွင့္ ႏုိင္ငံေရးအခြင့္အေရးမ်ားဆုိင္ရာ သေဘာတူညီခ်က္ ("ICCPR") ကုိ အသိအမွတ္ျပဳပါရန္ႏွင့္ သတင္းမီဒီယာဥပေဒကုိ ဖက္စုံျပည့္စုံစြာ ျပင္ဆင္ေရးဆြဲပါရန္ ေတာင္းဆုိလုိပါသည္။ သုိ႔မွသာ လြတ္လပ္စြာ ေဖာ္ျပေျပာဆုိခြင့္ ႏုိင္ငံတကာစံခ်ိန္စံႏႈန္းမ်ားႏွင့္ ကုိက္ညီလိမ့္မည္ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37623/News-Media-Law-Myanmar-BU.pdf
Date of entry/update:
25 July 2014
Myanmar: Disappointment surrounds amendment to assembly law
Date of publication:
27 June 2014
Description/subject:
"ARTICLE 19 joins parliamentarians and civil society disappointed by the government’s failure to bring the Law on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession in line with human rights standards. Parliamentarians, including U Aung Zin, a member of ARTICLE 19’s civil society partner, the People’s Coalition for Free Expression, believed that they had successfully removed the notorious Section 18 from the Law, which requires demonstrators to get permission from the police prior to demonstrating. The law has led to the prosecution of hundreds of people, many of whom were demonstrating against key issues such as government corruption and land confiscations. Unfortunately, in the amendment signed by the president on 24 June, Section 18 remains. Instead of repealing it, Section 18 has been watered down by requiring the police to have a “valid” reason for refusing permission. It is unclear what the valid reasons are..."
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
11 July 2014
The Telecommunications Law - Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 31/2013 (English)
Date of publication:
08 October 2013
Description/subject:
Telecommunication Law No. 31, both in English and Burmese, should be the same, although the text in the Burmese text says it is law No. 66/2013
Source/publisher:
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
05 June 2014
Myanmar: Public service media needed but proposed bill inadequate (Burmese ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Date of publication:
26 June 2013
Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
26 June 2013
Myanmar: Public service media needed but proposed bill inadequate (English)
Date of publication:
26 June 2013
Description/subject:
"Establishing a genuine public service media is desperately needed in Myanmar to provide an independent, impartial and balanced source of information, and to encourage pluralism. Unfortunately, the proposed bill on public service media would if adopted continue state control of the media and the disenfranchisement of ethnic minorities. ARTICLE 19 urges parliament to make significant changes before adopting it..."
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
pdf (102K), html (40K)
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/37123/en/myanmar:-public-service-media-needed-but-p...
Date of entry/update:
26 June 2013
Myanmar: Ministry's draft press bill would restore prior censorship and full government control (English/ Burmese ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Date of publication:
25 March 2013
Description/subject:
"A draft press bill put before parliament by the Minister of Information and Communications should be withdrawn or rejected when it has its first reading in June as it would be a major step backwards for freedom of expression and freedom of the media, restoring prior censorship and full governmental control over the press..." ျပန္ၾကားေရး၀န္ၾကီးဌာနက လႊတ္ေတာ္တြင္ အဆိုတင္သြင္းသည့္ ပံုႏွိပ္ဥပေဒမူၾကမ္းသည္ ၾကိဳတင္စိစစ္ျခင္း (ဆင္ဆာျပဳလုပ္ျခင္း) ႏွင့္ မီဒီယာမ်ားအေပၚ အစိုးရခ်ဳပ္ကိုင္မႈကိုအျပည့္အ၀ ျပန္လည္အားေပးျပီး လြတ္လပ္စြာထုတ္ေဖာ္ေရးသားခြင့္ႏွင့္ မီဒီယာလြတ္လပ္ခြင္႔တို့ကို ၾကီးမားစြာအဟန္႔အတား ျပဳလိမ့္မည္ျဖစ္ေသာေၾကာင့္ ဇြန္လတြင္ျပဳလုပ္မည့္ ပထမအၾကိမ္ လႊတ္ေတာ္တြင္း ၄င္းမူၾကမ္းေဆြးေႏြးပြဲတြင္ ႐ုပ္သိမ္းသင့္ေၾကာင္း (သို႔မဟုတ္) အတည္ျပဳရန္ ျငင္းဆိုသင့္သည္။...
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/3679/my/
Date of entry/update:
26 March 2013
Myanmar draft printer’s law to reverse media freedom gains (English/ Burmese ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Date of publication:
11 March 2013
Description/subject:
"The media community in Myanmar, international groups and observers are abuzz with criticism towards and protest against the Ministry of Information’s (MOI) draft Printers and Publishing Enterprise Law (PPEL) submitted to Parliament recently. And rightfully so. The PPEL bill ensures government's continued grip on the print media through licensing controls, which represent a renewal of the old 1962 Printers and Publications Act (PPA). Furthermore, the MOI’s lack of transparency surrounding the process points to a regime still unwilling to embrace media freedom in its fullest sense. The bill is being introduced by the MOI for the ostensibly benign purpose of establishing rules for conducting such businesses. Apart from the PPEL, bills to regulate the broadcast and online media are also on the agenda of the government..."...Commentary includes Burmese text
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
26 March 2013
Myanmar: Press bill falls far short of international law and would leave press open to abuse (English/ Burmese ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Date of publication:
27 February 2013
Description/subject:
"Despite promises of reform, a new press bill to be presented in parliament retains a vagueness that will leave the print media open to abuse from the government and other powerful actors. "The draft Press Law Bill (2013) says that the media should become “a fourth pillar” of democracy “watching and guiding the other three”. The media will not however become a fourth pillar under this draft because it undermines their role and overly restricts their work...The bill has both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, it repeals draconian laws and replaces them with provisions that proclaim human rights. On the negative side it falls substantially below international freedom of expression standards..."
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
html (Commentary, English and Burmese), pdf (3.35-draft bill)
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/3626/my/%E1%80%BB%E1%80%99%E1%80%94%E1%80%B9%E1%80%...
Date of entry/update:
27 February 2013
Beginners’ guide to freedom of expression laws အေျခခံအဆင့္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာလူ႔အခြင့္အေရး ဥပေဒ လမ္းညႊန္ (English/ Burmese ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Date of publication:
18 December 2012
Description/subject:
ARTICLE 19 launched a new series of beginners’ guides to international human rights law in 2012 as part of our work on reform in Burma. The guides explain what governments are expected to do – or not do – in order to respect, protect and fulfil the right to freedom of expression. ျမန္မာျပည္ ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲေရးဆိုင္ရာ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္အျဖစ္ ၂၀၁၂ တြင္ အေျခခံအဆင့္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး ဥပေဒ လမ္းညႊန္စာအုပ္ကို ထုတ္ေ၀ခဲ့သည္။ ဤလမ္းညႊန္ စာအုပ္တြင္ လြတ္လ ပ္စြာထုတ္ေဖာ္ေျပာဆုိင္ခြင့္ကို ေလးစားရန္၊ ကာကြယ္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ရန္ႏွင့္ ျမင့္တင္ရန္ အစိုးရ မ်ား လုပ္ေဆာင္ရမည့္အရာ၊ မလုပ္ေဆာင္သင့္သည့္အရာမ်ား ကို ရွင္းျပထားသည္။... Regulating print media ပံုႏွိပ္မီဒီယာကို စည္းမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း ... Regulating journalists သတင္းေထာက္မ်ားကို စည္းမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း ... Regulating the internet အင္တာနက္ကို စည္းမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း ... Regulating broadcast media ရုပ္သံလြင့္မီဒီယာကို စီးမ်ဥ္းျဖင့္ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္ျခင္း
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
11 July 2014
Myanmar: The Decree on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession 2012 - Legal Analysis (English/ Burmese ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Date of publication:
20 September 2012
Description/subject:
Executive Summary and Recommendations: In July 2012, "ARTICLE 19 analysed the Decree on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession of Myanmar, adopted by the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar on 5 July 2012. The provisions of the Decree were examined for their compliance with international standards on human rights. Myanmar has neither signed nor ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or other principal human rights treaties. Nevertheless, ARTICLE 19 suggests that guarantees to the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, as provided by Article 364 of the Constitution of Myanmar, allow a wide scope for interpretation and that international standards regarding these rights should provide guidance to such an interpretation. In the analysis, ARTICLE 19 appreciates the Decree’s recognition of the state duty to protect assembly participants. However, the requirement for permission to hold an assembly, the grounds for denying permission, the lack of a court appeal and the absence of guarantees for media access to assemblies are problematic and must be urgently revised. ARTICLE 19 also calls on the Government of Myanmar – in consultation with civil society - to review other legislative measures in light of international standards and to make them compliant with these standards. Recommendations ARTICLE 19 calls on the Government of Myanmar: • To sign and ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; • To invite the UN special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association and the special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression to visit Myanmar; • To ensure that the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of expression are safeguarded in line with international standards; • To revise the Decree on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession in accordance with international standards on freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, as recommended by ARTICLE 19; • To initiate public discussion about the current legal framework on peaceful assemblies and engage in consultation with civil society representatives on how to improve the relevant legislation. ARTICLE 19 calls on civil society in Myanmar: • To engage in public debates and consultation with the government on how to improve the domestic legislation on peaceful assembly; • To form coalitions between civil society organisations and launch public education campaigns on the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of expression; • To draft legislative proposals and advocate for specific changes in domestic legislation aiming at the improvement of the protection of the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of expression; • To seek partnerships with international organisations in a specific mandate on the right to freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly."
English, Burmese (ျမန္မာဘာသာ)
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
pdf (346K-English; 6.54MB-Burmese))
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/3440/12-09-19-LA-Myanmar-BU.pdf
http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/3440/en/myanmar:-law-on-assembly-and-procession-inc...
Date of entry/update:
24 September 2012
Analysis of the Guarantees of Freedom of Expression in the 2008 Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar August 2012
Date of publication:
August 2012
Description/subject:
"When it was first introduced in 2008, the new Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar was deemed to be a great improvement over the previous constitution. An important part of this was the more robust guarantees it included for human rights. And an important part of the latter was its relatively strong guarantees for freedom of expression. At the same time, the guarantees for freedom of expression in the 2008 Constitution do not fully meet international standards in this area. This Analysis outlines the key attributes of international standards, and indicate how the guarantees of freedom of expression in the 2008 Constitution fail to meet these standards..."
Source/publisher:
Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD); International Media Support (IMS)
Format/size:
Date of entry/update:
03 September 2012
Burma: Role of freedom of expression in democratisation processes
Date of publication:
29 March 2012
Description/subject:
29 Mar 2012 Presentation to the Conference on Media Development in Myanmar, Organised by the Ministry of Information and UNESCO Rangoon, Myanmar, March 19-20, 2012.....CONCLUSION: "...At the outset I emphasised that law is the essential business of government and noted the critical part to be played by the tripartite system of law making, law enacting and law protection. The legislators, executive and judiciary fulfil critical functions without which the rule of law fails and the fabric of sustainable society falls. To set solid foundations for sustainable society, there are important laws, which should be drafted according to international standard and enacted accordingly. Critical are those that protect and uphold the rights to freedoms of expression, assembly and information and freedom of the press. They are a stable society’s backbone and shoulder blades. Robust legal frameworks for freedoms of expression, information and the media are critical and irrevocable human rights in their own right. They are also powerful social goods in that they enable government to fulfil its tri-partite functions, to maintain its responsibilities to the law and to uphold the best practices of good governance. The transparency provided by freedom of information, the scrutiny provided by freedom of the press and the critique provided by freedom of expression create the environment in which high quality accountability government can flourish and deepen. In other words if law is the skeletal framework on which stands and falls the strength and sustainability of a society, then the rights to freedoms of expression, information and the press is also a government’s personal trainer! A challenge, a goal, an encouragement and a motivator: without which no government can perform to the highest standard or achieve the best possible for those who give governments its raison d’etre: the people."
Author/creator:
Agnes Callamard
Source/publisher:
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Date of entry/update:
01 April 2012
Acts of Oppression: Censorship and the law in Burma
Date of publication:
Description/subject:
"Freedom of expression has been one of the prime casualties of prolonged military rule in Burma. Since the army first began controlling the levers of state power in 1962, numerous publications have been censored or banned; hundreds of journalists, writers, poets, playwrights and cartoonists, as well as pro-democracy activists have been arrested, detained or sentenced to long prison terms, tortured, ill-treated or otherwise harassed, even killed, and tens of thousands of ordinary people have been punished simply for peacefully expressing their views. The impact has been immense and crippling, reverberating through all aspects of life in Burma and blighting the country?s social, cultural and, particularly, economic development. Years of strong-arm military dictatorship and misrule, buttressed by one of the world?s severest censorship regimes and systematic abuse of human rights, have driven thousands of Burma?s citizens to seek refuge abroad and marked out Burma as a pariah within the international community of nation states..." Contents: I) INTRODUCTION; II) POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND; III) FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW; IV) THE STATE OF THE RULE OF LAW; V) FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND ITS PROTECTION IN LAW: (a) The constitutional position; (b) Specific legislative measures: a detailed analysis: 1 The Printers and Publishers Registration Law 1962; 2 Emergency Provisions Act 1950; 3 State Protection Law 1975; 4 The Television and Video Law; 5 The Motion Picture Law; 6 The Computer Science Development Law; 7 The Official Secrets Act 1923; 8 Other Laws. VI) EXTRA-LEGAL DENIAL OF FREE SPEECH. VII) CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
Author/creator:
Venkat Iyer
Source/publisher:
Article 19 (ISBN 1 902598 04 0)
Format/size:
html (102K)
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/burma-acts-of-oppression.pdf
Date of entry/update:
03 June 2003
Burma Beyond the Law
Date of publication:
August 1996
Description/subject:
"...Decades of military rule in Burma have prevented the rule of law from taking deep root during the country's post-colonial history. The concept of the rule of law suffered a particularly severe blow with the accession to power of the SLORC in the coup d'etat of 18 September 1988. Most of the laws passed since that date reveal a persistent disregard for internationally-recognized human rights norms. What is more, the few vestiges of constitutionalism and legality that remained at the time of the coup have been all but extinguished by this military government whose legitimacy to govern is highly questionable both under Burmese domestic law and international law...An indication of its lack of good faith is provided by the manner in which it has sought to force through proposals for constitutional reform which are designed to perpetuate military rule under the guise of democratic government. The National Convention, which it created without any mandate or consultation and whose working methods are so patently unfair and lacking in either transparency or legitimacy, bodes ill for the future of democracy and freedom in Burma. Urgent action is required to establish the rule of law, human rights and governmental accountability in Burma. Many of these recommendations have been made by the UN General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights in successive resolutions on Burma since 1990..." FOREWORD... INTRODUCTION... 1 INACCESSIBILITY AND VAGUENESS OF LAWS... 2 CONSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND... 3 THE LEGITIMACY OF THE COUP D'ETAT OF 18 SEPTEMBER 1988... 4 THE SLORC'S REFUSAL TO TRANSFER POWER: 4.1 The Position Under International Law; 4.2 The Position Under Burmese Domestic Law... 5 THE MARTIAL LAW MEASURES AND THEIR COMPATIBILITY WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW: 5.1 Some General Considerations; 5.2 The Martial Law Measures: A Detailed Analysis; 5.2.1 The Right to Life; 5.2.2 Arbitrary Arrest and Detention; 5.2.3 Cruel and Inhuman Detention Conditions; 5.2.4 Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment; 5.2.5 Fair Trial Concerns; 5.2.6 Freedom of Expression; 5.2.7 Forced Relocations; 5.2.8 Forced Labour and Forced Portering; 5.2.9 Citizenship Rights; 5.2.10 Freedom of Movement, Assembly and Association; 5.2.11 Right to Democratic Participation; 5.2.12 Human Rights Violations against Children and Women; 5.3 Violations of International Humanitarian Law... 6 CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS: THE NATIONAL CONVENTION... 7 THE SLORC'S SENSITIVITY TO INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM... 8 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
Author/creator:
K S Venkateswaran
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Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/burma-beyond-law.pdf
Date of entry/update:
11 June 2005
Censorship Prevails: Political Deadlock and Economic Transition in Burma
Date of publication:
Description/subject:
"Burma remains one of the most heavily censored states in the world. The main instrument of day-to-day censorship continues to be the Printers and Publishers Registration Law of 1962. Introduced shortly after the military coup which brought Gen. Ne Win and his newly-formed BSPP to power, the law has been repeatedly expanded in scope and severity over the years, including by the present SLORC government. Currently, all books, magazines, periodicals, songs and films must be submitted under this law to the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB) prior to being printed or, in some cases, distributed. Books, for example, must be submitted to the PSB before printing and again afterwards to check that no changes have been made, whereas magazines, which must be legally registered, are required to take the more risky method of submitting copies for censorship only after they have been printed. Under the 1985 Video Law, all videos must also be submitted to the Video Censorship Board (which comes under the Film Censorship Board) for pre-publication scrutiny, reflecting the authorities' nervousness about the rapid proliferation of this form of expression..." Contents: 1 Overview of Recent Events; 2 Continuing Mechanisms of Censorship; 3 New Developments in the State Media; 4 Alternative Expression and the Private Sector Media; 4.1 Business Publications; 4.2 Film and Video; 4.3 Literary Rallies; 5 The SLORC's Political Reform Process; 6 Academic Freedom and Education; 7 Constraints on Freedom of Association and Movement; 8 Ethnic Minority Languages and Literature; 9 Foreign Media and Non-Governmental Organizations; 10 Conclusion and Recommendations. Appendix: Writers and Political Activists Imprisoned for the Peaceful Expression of Their Opinions.
Author/creator:
Martin Smith
Source/publisher:
Article 19 (ISBN 1 870798 77 5)
Format/size:
html (121K)
Alternate URLs:
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/burma-censorship-prevails.pdf
Date of entry/update:
03 June 2003
State of Fear: Censorship in Burma (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
December 1991
Description/subject:
"...T h i s report documents the extent and mechanisms of censorship in Burma and the many restrictions on political, cultural, religious and academic freedoms, both under the former BSPP government and its successor, the SLORC, which assumed power in September 1988. Since then, writers and journalists have continued to be detained, harassed and dismissed from their posts. Publications have been banned and, using new martial law restrictions, press censorship has been further tightened. Foreign journalists have been banned and the SLORC has launched frequent attacks on foreign news organizations and journalists..." 3 The Background to Crisis: 3.1 Economic and Social Collapse; 3.2 Ethnic Strife and Civil War; 3.3 Narcotics and AIDS; 3.4 Ecology; 3.5 Refugees; 3.6 The Issue of Human Rights... 4 Development of the Press in Burma: 4.1 The Colonial Era; 4.2 The Parliamentary Era... 5 The Legacy of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP): 5.1 The Ne Win Period; 5.2 The Media Under Ne Win; 5.3 The 1974 Constitution; 5.4 The Publishing Registration Law; 5.5 Alternative Expression; 5.6 Ethnic Minorities and Burmanization; 5.7 Religious Minorities; 5.8 Literacy... 6 The Press in the 1988 Democracy Summer: 7 The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC); 7.1 SLORC Claims of Legitimacy; 7.2 SLORC's Use of the Law; 7.3 SLORC Actions in the pre-Election Period; 7.4 Restrictions on Movement and Forced Relocations of Civilians... 8 The 1990 General Election: 8.1 Arrests and Retrospective Laws in the post-Election Period; 8.2 Continuing Use of Press Laws to Stifle Freedom of Expression; 8.3 Ill-Treatment and Death in Custody of Poltical Prisoners... 9 Cultural and Political Expression Under the SLORC: 9.1 Newspapers; 9.2 SLORC's Cultural Revolution; 9.3 Music and Films; 9.4 Journals, Books and Magazines; 9.5 Education; 9.6 Restrictions on Public Servants and Political Parties; 9.7 Religious Freedom; 9.8 Ethnic Minorities; 9.9 The Insurgent Press... 10 The SLORC and the International Community: 10.1 The Foreign Press; 10.2 The International Response; 10.3 The Reply from the SLORC; 10.4 The Role of the United Nations... 11 Summary of the SLORC Period and Prospects for the Future... 12 Conclusions and Recommendations... Appendix 1: Journalists,Writers and Intellectuals in Detention; Appendix 2: Country Statistics... Appendix 3: Extracts from "What has become of us?" by Min Lu... Appendix 4: SLORC Questionnaire to Public Servants, 1 April 1991... Appendix 5: SLORC Questionnaire to Political Parties, 5 August 1991... Appendix 6: Multilateral and Bilaterall Aid to Burma... Appendix 7: Foreign Company Investments and Trade in Burma... Select Bibliography. ISBN 1 870798 71 6
Author/creator:
Martin Smith
Source/publisher:
Format/size:
pdf (451K - without covers; 720K - with covers)
Alternate URLs:
http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs3/State-of-Fear-ocr.pdf (with covers)