Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia As noted, comprehensive internet shutdowns can never be justified under international human rights law. Instances of shutdowns in recent years reflect a real risk that governments in the region may employ this indiscriminate method more often in the future to maintain “public order” through sacrificing the rights to free expression, information, security, assembly association, education, health and work, amongst other rights. There is already evidence of a growing recourse to the use of shutdowns by governments across the globe. In September 2019, the New York Times reported, referencing research conducted by digital rights organization Access Now, that one quarter of countries in the world had imposed internet shutdowns in the preceding four years, and that they were often imposed during instances of civil unrest or political instability.548 In a 2018 report, Access Now noted that more than 196 internet shutdowns had been imposed in 25 countries, for reasons of combating disinformation, hate speech, incitement to violence online, national security and public order.549 In nearly 60 percent of all reported incidents in 2018, State authorities did not acknowledge responsibility for ordering the shutdowns.550 Myanmar As highlighted in the introductory paragraphs to this report, Myanmar faces a severe problem involving proliferation of hate speech online. Indiscriminate and accelerating spread of hate speech and incitement to violence on Facebook was found to have had a role in facilitating gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity and possible genocide of Rohingya Muslims, particularly in Rakhine state. It is within not only this context, but also a wider context of widespread discrimination against members of minority groups throughout the country and continuing strife between different ethnic, racial and religious communities, that the use of internet shutdowns by the Myanmar government should be analysed.551 548 NY Times, 2 September 2019. 549 India was responsible for 134 shutdowns, while three shutdowns were recorded in the region – in Indonesia and Philippines – in 2018. See Access Now 2018 report, p 2. 550 Out of the more than 200 incidents of shutdowns reported in 2018, 77 were acknowledged by State entities that had ordered the shutdowns. See Access Now 2018 report, pp. 2, 4, 5. 551 See Section I. The ICJ has also addressed these issues often. See for eg. ICJ, ‘Myanmar: scrap ‘race and religion laws’ that could fuel discrimination and violence’, 3 March 2015, Available at: https://www.icj.org/myanmar-scrap-race-and-religion-laws-that-could-fuel-discrimination-andviolence/; ICJ, ‘Myanmar: Protection of Rohingya Minority, UN Special Session’, 5 December 2017, Available at: https://www.icj.org/myanmar-un-special-session/; ICJ, ‘ICJ convenes panel discussion on citizenship and human rights in Myanmar’, 24 June 2019, Available at: https://www. icj.org/icj-convenes-panel-discussion-on-citizenship-and-human-rights-in-myanmar/ 139