The government of Myanmar has a long history of implementing targeted internet shutdowns, slowdowns, and throttling. With the country’s federal election scheduled for November 8, Access Now calls for stable and open internet and digital communication channels across all states.…
6 November 2020
Elections are increasingly becoming a trigger point for internet shutdowns, and governments have already flipped the kill switch during elections in 2020. The #KeepItOn coalition is mobilizing to keep people connected as they go to the polls in the coming weeks.…
15 October 2020
When member states fail to protect human rights — such as by cutting off internet access in the middle of a global pandemic — we leverage the UPR process to call attention to that failure and press for change. …
10 September 2020
Voice of America
2 September 2020
Access Now denounces the persecution of Maung Saungkha, a prominent Myanmar poet and activist, by authorities in Myanmar and demands an end to his continued harassment. Maung Saungkha is being accused of organizing “unlawful” protests to demand an end to the internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin states.…
20 August 2020
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition is launching Kill Switch, a six-part podcast series exploring the devastating impact of internet shutdowns on the human rights of people affected by this extraordinary form of anti-democratic oppression.…
27 July 2020
Today the #KeepItOn coalition sent an open letter to the Deputy Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, calling on her to urge states to end the blatant and arbitrary internet shutdowns that are ongoing during COVID-19.…
26 May 2020
The Indian government is responding to citizen protests in major cities by deliberately cutting access to mobile networks, an inherently anti-democratic tactic that threatens human rights and puts people’s lives in danger. Sadly, this is part of an ongoing trend globally and across Asia, and the people it is hurting the most have the least capacity to defend their rights. …
19 December 2019
Visits to the refugee camps show that degrading cell service is harming the Rohingyas’ capacity to get access to vital information, express themselves freely, and otherwise exercise their fundamental human rights.…
2 October 2019
In the midst of conflict and a refugee crisis in Myanmar, people in at least four townships continue to suffer a deliberate internet blackout. We urge the government to restore access to the internet and keep it on.…
30 September 2019
Myanmar has chosen the two winners of its new telecoms licenses, Telenor Mobile Communications of Norway and Ooredoo of Qatar. After winning the highly competitive process, they will have their work cut out for them, both operationally and in with regards to human rights.…
27 June 2013