Photo 6 & 7 : Snapshot from the Rohingya refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar. Photo – Khin Maung 21

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Lockdown and Shutdown: Exposing the Impacts of Recent Network Disruptions in Myanmar and Bangladesh

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Athan
Harvard Law School - Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society: Cyberlaw Clinic
Harvard Law School: International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC)
PDi-Kintha (Peace and Development Initiative)
Rohingya Youth Association

Abstract: We begin the paper with overviews of the human rights situation in Myanmar and Bangladesh which lays the groundwork for both the rationale behind the internet shutdowns as well as their impacts. This section highlights the Tatmadaw’s 2017 “clearance operations” that forced more than 750,000 Rohingyas refugees to flee to Bangladesh, the ongoing armed conflict in Rakhine and Chin State in Myanmar and the situation in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. We then move to examine the immediate causes of the targeted internet shutdowns in Myanmar and Bangladesh, which both began in 2019. Next, we demonstrate that violations of digital rights are violations of human rights, and explain why internet shutdowns impede the rights of IDPs and refugees. In Section 4, the heart of the white paper, we showcase the voices of our interviewees, and draw out key themes from the interviews. Our findings reveal that there are commonalities in the impacts of the shutdowns in both countries, such as in the areas of public health information around COVID-19, education, and access to reliable news in misinformation-rich environments, as well as differences in areas like work, access to healthcare, and physical security. The paper concludes with key recommendations to the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh.