အသံး& ြပ$သ= အခွငအ ့် ေရး ချိ$းေဖာက်မ1များ Violations of User Rights C1: ဖွဲWစည်းပံ&အ ေြခခံဥပေဒ[.င ့် အြခားဥပေဒများသည် လွတလ ် ပ် စွာ ထ&တေ ် ဖာ်ေြပာဆိ&ြခင်း၊ သတင်းအချက်အလက်ရယ=ခွင[ . ့် ့် င ၀ မ.တ် သတင်းလွတလ ် ပ် ခွင ့် စသည့် အခွငအ ့် ေရးများကိ& အင်တာနက်ေပ4တွင ် အပါအဝင် ကာကွယ်ရန် ပျက်ကွက်ပါသလား။ ၎င်း ဥပေဒများအား လွတလ ် ပ်မ1ကင်းေသာ တရားစီရင်ေရးအဖွဲWက အားေကာင်းလာေစပါသလား။ (၀-၆ မ.တ)် C1: Do the constitution or other laws fail to protect rights such as freedom of expression, access to information, and press freedom, including on the internet, and are they enforced by a judiciary that lacks independence? (0–6 points) Score Change: The score declined from 1 to 0 because the military’s actions have effectively nullified the constitution and its limited protections for free expression. By undertaking the February 2021 coup, the military effectively nullified the constitution, along with the limited protections for free expression that it offered. The junta claimed that the coup—carried out under the cover of a year-long state of emergency that the military said was necessary to address unverified claims of fraud in the November 2020 elections—was in line with its powers under the constitution. However, both the stated justification and the process itself were criticized by numerous civil society groups and legal organizations as being clearly unlawful.219 Furthermore, legal experts have observed that many of the military’s actions since the coup were unconstitutional, and that the rule of law has essentially collapsed.220 Members of the Constitutional Tribunal, the one state body that might have held the authorities accountable to the constitution, were all replaced by the military on February 9, 2021.221 The constitution and other laws in Myanmar had largely failed to protect human rights online. The constitution, drafted by a previous military government and approved in a flawed 2008 referendum, states that “enhancing the eternal principles of justice, liberty, and equality” is one of the country’s six objectives.222 It also provides specific—but highly limited—guarantees for citizens to “express and publish their convictions and opinions,”223 and to “freely develop literature, culture, arts, customs, and traditions,”224 provided that they are “not contrary to the laws enacted for Union [of Myanmar] security, prevalence of law and order, community peace and tranquility, or public order and 0 morality.”225 The constitution includes no provisions directly relating to the internet or access to information, although Article 96 and Schedule 1 (8.m) grant the parliament authority to establish laws regulating the internet. In February 2019, the government established a joint parliamentary committee to recommend constitutional amendments to address access to the internet and information.226 Later that year, a coalition of civil society organizations put forward their demands relating to freedom of expression.227 The committee’s final recommendations did not include any substantive changes to human rights or internet freedom in particular. Fair trial rights are often violated in Myanmar’s courts: the accused often have no effective representation, they receive limited access to court documents, and judges are inattentive during proceedings.228 Trials concerning online activity commonly include significant procedural errors, technically unreliable evidence, and deep-seated judicial unwillingness to consult expert testimony.229 In many cases, courts have been presented with easily forgeable printouts of digital content, or have ruled without testing the authenticity, reliability, or admissibility of evidence.230 Judicial independence is impeded by political interference. Under the constitution, judges were nominated by the president, and lawmakers could reject the choice only if it was clearly proven that the nominee did not meet the legal qualifications for the post. The courts generally adjudicate cases in accordance with the government’s interests, particularly in major cases with political implications. A number of laws undermine online media freedom. A 2018 amendment to the Broadcasting Law failed to Free Expression Myanmar (FEM) and Freedom House - Freedom of the Net: Myanmar - အင်တာနက်ေပ*တွင် လွတ်လပ်မ/ - ြမန်မာ2ိ4င်ငံ - Page 18