Urge your senators to co-sponsor the S.Res 35 in support of Myanmar's fight for democracy! Actions need to be taken as quickly as possible.

On February 1, 2021, the Tatmadaw (military) of Myanmar staged a coup, detaining key leaders of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party. This was immediately followed by the Tatmadaw censoring the press, shutting down the Internet, closing banks, cutting off global communication, and announcing a state of emergency. As it stands, our Burmese brothers and sisters suffer in silence, unlawfully thrust under the rule of a dangerous dictatorship that opposes the will of the people. As of February 15, the peaceful protestors in Myanmar have been met with coordinated, violent attacks by the Tatmadaw: arresting civilians, releasing armed and drugged prisoners to attack protesters, setting neighborhoods on fire, poisoning water supplies, and other acts of terror intended to quash the democratic spirit. The coup is the Tatmadaw’s retaliation of the 2020 general election in which the NLD amassed nearly 60% of the people’s votes; the Tatmadaw denounced the results, citing unsubstantiated acts of “fraud.” The people of Myanmar now stand in bleak uncertainty of what is to come, reminded of the bloody 1988 Uprising: student-organized national protests demanding democratic rule met with militant violence and thousands of casualties.

More than 700,000 Rohingya people have had to flee Myanmar since August of 2017—128,000 of them displaced. As of February 9th, 2021, The Rohingya Crisis in Myanmar remains labeled as an “unchanging” conflict status by the Council on Foreign Relations. Dating further back, the conflict between the Karen people and the military is the longest internal war in Myanmar. Since 2011, more than 4,000 Karen people have been displaced by the military. Furthermore, Paletwa villagers struggled to survive through an armed conflict in the summer of 2020 as more were increasingly missing, arrested, or killed. In hopes to escape these endless atrocities, more than 2,000 Chin people have fled violence, mainly due to religious persecution. With more than 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar, the military desires no more than power and control regardless of the bloodshed of the people in the country. No ethnic minorities in Myanmar are spared from the military dictatorship—not even in the 21st century.

The country of Myanmar is in a humanitarian crisis, requiring immediate humanitarian intervention. In addition to the ethnic conflicts, civil servants across the country have decided to step down from their jobs, refusing to serve under military rule. The growing Civil Disobedience Movement, however, not only hurts civilians in need of service, but also causes great concerns about the future of the COVID-19 pandemic as the military halted its vaccination programs. Furthermore, poverty and food instability have increased as a consequence. The repercussions of the Civil Disobedience Movement underscore the importance of remaining engaged with Myanmar as well as intervening before the situation becomes a humanitarian disaster.