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Others believe that the “information blackout” serves a second purpose: preventing news of human rights violations from reaching the rest of Myanmar and the international community. According to Patricia, originally from Sittwe, and now displaced in Chin State: “…they want to create information blackout...They also worry that what is happening within the country will reach to the international community.”124 “The government wants to…stop the news of the crimes they have committed in the conflict-affected areas from reaching the international community. During the 2012 crisis, the public immediately uploaded the crimes the military have committed on the internet and so, the government wants to prevent the same from happening again.”125 Muhammad Shor Biar in Buthidaung Township, Rakhine State further echoes this: “They block information flow. They block communication. Before, if something happened, the news together with the pictures were instantly shared on the internet. I think the government does not want the world including us to know about that.”126 One common position shared by interviewees in Myanmar and Bangladesh is their skepticism over the governments’ reasons for the internet shutdowns. Both governments alluded to “illegal activities”; in Bangladesh, it is alleged yaba smuggling in the refugee camps, while in Myanmar it is AA’s “terrorism” in Rakhine and Chin state. Omar Faruque for example, believes that refugees are being deprived of news and updates of the camps and that, “Government is trying to accomplish with the shutdowns with some reasons that are not actually in us such as smuggling and spreading yaba case.…”127 Md Ataram Shine from Balukhali Camp 2 like Omar Faruque128 believes that, “government is giving reason is to ban smuggling and yaba” when in fact, it is local people involved in the illegal activities and the Rohingyas are being scapegoated. 124 Myanmar interview 3. Name changed. 125 Myanmar interview 4. Name changed. 126 Myanmar interview 6. Name changed. 127 Bangladesh interview 1. 128 Bangladesh interview 2. 29

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

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English

Topic

Digital Rights
Internet Connectivity / Accessibility
Internet Restrictions
Rohingya Crisis

Author(s)

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

Date Published: Jan 19, 2021

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.

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

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