31. The Government of Myanmar has attempted to control reporting on ongoing armed conflicts. In March 2020, it blocked several ethnic news websites that regularly report on military abuses.50 It has at times denied access to northern Rakhine State ⎯ the site of widespread systematic atrocities against the Rohingya minority in 2017 ⎯ for those seeking to investigate international crimes and human rights abuses, including journalists and even the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar and the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.51 It has failed to provide guidance on how access to the area can be obtained, with regional and Union authorities each claiming the other was responsible.52 Access for humanitarian actors remains heavily restricted. 53 32. The Government of Myanmar has facilitated highly choreographed visits to Rakhine State for diplomats and journalists. Despite the government’s claims to the contrary, 54 the movements and activities of participants taking part in these trips have been severely restricted, with journalists unable to conduct interviews in private.55 Officials have clumsily attempted to fabricate evidence and introduce journalists to ‘eyewitnesses’ who have been demonstrated to lack credibility.56 33. Despite supporting recommendations relating to the media framework, and reform efforts by the Myanmar Press Council, the News Media Law has not been amended since the 2015 UPR. The News Media Law fails to adequately protect and promote media freedom, and incorporates impermissible restrictions on content.57 The scope of application of the law is overly broad and could apply to nonmedia actors. It further contains insufficient provision for the safety of journalists. 34. The News Media Law establishes the Myanmar Press Council, but the protections for its independence could be improved by removing government appointment powers. 35. The Law provides another avenue for the prosecution of journalists; journalists failing to abide by certain rules set out in the Law may be fined under section 25. For example, in February 2019, the editor-inchief of the weekly Tanintharyi Journal was found guilty under the News Media Law of defaming regional officials in relation to a story and fined 500,000 kyats. 58 The case was filed on behalf of a former government official who has since been removed from office and faces corruption charges.59 36. The Printing and Publication Enterprise Law was adopted in 2014. While it marked an improvement over the highly repressive 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law, it imposes unnecessary and 50 ARTICLE 19, Myanmar: Immediately lift ban on ethnic news websites, 1 April 2020, available at: https://www.article19.org/resources/myanmar-immediately-lift-ban-on-ethnic-news-websites/. 51 Human Rights Watch, ‘Burma: Allow Access to Investigate Abuses in Rakhine State’, 17 November 2016,available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/17/burma-allow-access-investigate-abuses-rakhine-state; Report of the detailed findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc A/HRC/39/CRP.2, 17 September 2018. 52 ‘Myanmar Keeps Media Away From Rakhine Conflict Zone’, Radio Free Asia, 11 November 2018, https://bit.ly/2UMH2hh. 53 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, ‘The Refugee Brief – 19 February 2020’, 19 February 2020, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/refugeebrief/the-refugee-brief-19-february-2020/. 54 See, for example, President’s Office, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, ‘Journalists impressed with extensive media access in Rakhine’, undated, available at: https://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/?q=issues/rakhine-stateaffairs/id-7009. 55 See, for example, Konrad Staehelin, Frontier Myanmar, ‘Playing cat and mouse on a Rakhine reporting tour’, 27 February 2020, available at: https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/playing-cat-and-mouse-on-a-rakhine-reportingtour?fbclid=IwAR1qi0ruJDIaCRorWaqt43Z1omScsYVHTcIT5aMAoncA_IKz56NoaGiRRYU; ‘Rohingya crisis: At the scene in Rakhine state, Myanmar’, BBC, 6 September 2017, available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia41178692/rohingya-crisis-at-the-scene-in-rakhine-state-myanmar. 56 ‘Rohingya crisis: Seeing through the official story in Myanmar’, BBC, 11 September 2017, available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41222210. 57 ARTICLE 19, ‘Myanmar: News Media Law, 2014: Legal Analysis’, 28 July 2014, available at: https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37623/News-Media-Law-Myanmar-EN.pdf; Centre for Law and Democracy, Reforming Myanmar’s News Media Law and Printing and Publishing Enterprises Law, January 2019, available at: https://www.law-democracy.org/live/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Media-Law-and-PPELNote.Jan19.final_.pdf. 58 An appeal is pending. Ye Mon, ‘Dawei case deals another setback to press freedom,’ Frontier Myanmar, 3 March 2019, available at: https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/dawei-case-deals-another-setback-to-press-freedom 59 ‘Tanintharyi chief minister arrested on corruption charges,’ Frontier Myanmar, 11 March 2019, available at: https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/tanintharyi-chief-minister-arrested-on-corruption-charges. 8