5. ENDING THE CYCLE OF POLITICAL ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT “Now we have to move carefully, think carefully about what we should do and not do. The fact that we can be arrested makes us think twice…It’s not that we are afraid, it’s that we don’t want to waste our time behind bars…there is so much to do to improve the situation in our country.” A woman rights activist.141 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO MYANMAR’S NEW GOVERNMENT The release of prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners is often cited by the authorities as a key example of the increased respect for the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association in Myanmar. Since March 2011, over 1,100 political prisoners142 have been released as part of 20 prisoner amnesties and pardons.143 According to the Myanmar authorities “… amnesties were granted on various occasions enabling prisoners to join others in nation-building tasks”.144 In his last speech to Parliament on the Amnesty International interview, Yangon, June 2015. Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Situation of human rights in Myanmar, report to the UN Human Rights Council, 2 April 2014, A/HRC/25/64, para.4 143 There were two amnesties in 2011 (16 May and 12 October); six in 2012 (4 January, 13 January, 3 July, 17 September, 15 November and 19 November), seven in 2013 (23 April, 17 May, 23 July, 8 October, 15 November, 11 December and 31 December), two in 2014 (3 January and 7 October) and two in 2015 (19 January and 30 July) and one in 2016 at the time of writing (22 January). 144 Myanmar, National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21, Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Twenty-third session 2–13 November 2015, 5 August 2015, A/HRC/WG.6/23/MMR/1, para.8 141 142 NEW EXPRESSION MEETS OLD REPRESSION ENDING THE CYCLE OF POLITICAL ARRESTS AND IMPRISONMENT IN MYANMAR Amnesty International 44