A Statement from ANFREL forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission
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The National Unity Government (NUG) held its very first press conference on Friday 4 June. The junta shut down the internet between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m to disrupt that press conference being held by the parallel government. The NUG said that it will announce a national D-Day to fight the military junta when the time is ripe at its press conference.
The COVID-19 control collapsed after the coup as many health workers joined a civil disobedience movement to protest against the junta. COVID-19 infections have resurfaced in Myanmar amid post-coup turmoil with 767 new cases being found and seven deaths in the past seven days. The military junta has imposed stay-at-home orders on half of the Chin State’s townships as well as Kalay, Sagaing State.
On 1 June, the junta forced the start of the new school year across the country. No more than a quarter of Myanmar’s 12 million pupils enrolled for the new school year amid a protest boycott against military rule and in the wake of a series of bombings, an official of Myanmar Teachers’ Federation said. Security forces stood guard at some schools and brought pupils under armed escort from their homes1.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the chief of the coup, met with Brunei’s Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Erywan Pehin Yusof and ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi in Naypyitaw on Friday 4 June. He told ASEAN envoys elections will only come after the country returns to ‘normal’. The parallel government, National Unity Government (NUG) said it no longer has any expectation that ASEAN can help Myanmar as the regional bloc has only engaged with the junta while neglecting them.
The protests continued in different parts of Myanmar and its unsettled situation continued even in the fifth month after the coup. The clashes between the junta forces and the civil resistance fighters or Ethnic Armed Organizations also emerged in several places in Myanmar, such as in Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Chin, Shan, Mandalay, Magway, Ayeyarwaddy, Sagaing and Yangon States/Regions. It was reported that the staff who are joining the Civil Disobedience Movement are facing tough choices as there is no income, intimidation, legal threats and weakening financial support. More young people are joining the ethnic armed organisations for military training.
According to the information compiled by ANFREL, at least 65 bomb blasts happened across Myanmar in the past week. It was reported that at least 11 people died and at least 15 were injured.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of 6 June, 849 people were killed by the junta. 4,674 people are currently under detention and 160 are sentenced. 1,936 warrants have been issued. 31 were sentenced to death, 14 people to three years, 39 people to 20 years, 5 people to 7 years imprisonment with hard labor. The journalists of Democratic Voice of Burma and Mizzima were sentenced to two-year jail in the past week.
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The views shared in this statement do not necessarily reflect that of the AHRC.
