On 1 February 2021 Myanmar’s democratically elected government was deposed in a military coup and the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest alongside other civilian leaders. The coup ended a decade of quasi democracy and sparked an escalation in violence alongside a marked decline in freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) as part of broader grave and unchecked human rights violations. 

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing rules as head of the military junta’s State Administrative Council (SAC), which has ordered violent crackdowns on all forms of dissent and operate with complete impunity. The coup has exacerbated Myanmar’s pre-existing religious and ethnic tensions and has had a particularly brutal effect on those communities already shattered by sectarian violence. 

This report will initially focus on the broader picture of the deepening violence and civilian attacks nationwide before moving to consider the situation for each of the minority religions in the country and ending with recommendations.

Click here to download CSW's full submission to the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission (PDF).