Beginning on July 21, 2024, mobile/internet services across all townships in Kachin State were shut down.14 The communication blackouts are an attempt by the junta to hide evidence of its crimes and prevent resistance groups from coordinating. It is local communities who suffer from this, especially during emergencies when they are unable to contact outside help or their families. The blackouts have also led to delays in emergency assistance. As the crisis worsens, additional challenges have emerged in the digital suppression of news and information. Beginning on July 21, 2024, mobile/internet services across all townships in Kachin State were shut down. The communication blackouts are an attempt by the junta to hide its crimes and prevent resistance groups from coordinating. It is local communities who suffer from this, especially during emergencies when they are unable to contact outside help or their families. The blackouts have also led to delays in emergency assistance. While there are critical processes taking place to ensure accountability, the junta continues to abuse the rule of law and has dangerously continued to deny and dismiss the accusations they are facing. The UN Human Rights Council has maintained its commitment to continuing to investigate the crimes against civilians and in pursuing international accountability.15 In addition, legal authorities in Timor-Leste have initiated proceedings against the military junta for war crimes and crimes against humanity.16 The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), established in 2018 by the UN Human Rights Council, has also served as an entity for collecting, preserving and analyzing evidence of crimes perpetrated in Myanmar since 2011.17 Civilians have been forced to endure horrific levels of violence, with women and children bearing the brunt of the assaults and their aftermath, their lives shattered. Yet the junta is insisting on a pathway forward in which regional and international stakeholders recognize the results of its sham election. The way forward must acknowledge that the junta is a perpetrator of human rights violations and is carrying out an illegal coup, in which thousands of rights defenders continue to be detained. Without meaningful intervention and coordination to hold the junta accountable, the regime will only be more emboldened to commit more atrocity crimes. The preservation and protection of civilians are at stake and thus demand urgent intervention. 365 days of internet shutdown in Kachin State, Kachin Human Rights Watch February 2026 - Summary of Monthly Situation Update, Burma Human Rights Network, 16 March 2026 16 Timor-Leste Opens Legal Proceedings against Myanmar’s Military Junta, International Center for Transitional Justice, 3 March 2026 17 See Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar 14 15 10 | "Inhumane Acts" by KHRW