Documenting human rights violations is as important as ever during an internet shutdown. WITNESS Asia writes this guide on how activists can safely capture and preserve their videos during an internet shutdown, and even share them offline.
Maung Saungkha and Kyaw Lynn are members of the Coconet community. Prior to his July 27 sentencing, Kyaw Lynn had published on Coconet.social articles on how the Myanmar internet shutdown is contributing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s attempts to censor information on the Arakan (Rakhine) conflicts. Both members were arrested for participating in protests against the internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin states, currently the longest shutdown in the world.
This article is a republication of the June 21, 2020 statement of civil society organisations in Myanmar on the year-long internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin states. Chit Hnin Yu from Free Expression Myanmar writes about her thoughts on the internet shutdown and the joint statement.
Awal bulan Juni 2020, Pengadilan Tata Usaha Negara (PTUN) menyatakan Pemerintah Indonesia, dalam hal ini Presiden RI dan Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informasi (Menkominfo), telah melanggar hukum atas tindakan pelambatan (throttling) dan pemblokiran internet di beberapa wilayah di Papua dan Papua Barat pada tahun 2019. Kasus yang terjadi selama kurang lebih satu bulan dari tanggal 19 Agustus hingga 28 September 2019 ini diajukan ke PTUN oleh koalisi kelompok masyarakat sipil yang ada di Asia Tenggara. Kemenangan Tim Pembela Kebebasan Pers atas gugatan pada Menkominfo dan Presiden RI, menjadi contoh baik menyikapi cara pemerintah menerapkan otoritasnya dalam pengelolaan Internet.
Earlier this month, the Jakarta State Administrative Court declared as illegal the internet shutdowns in Papua and West Papua enforced by the Indonesian government in 2019. The case on the month-long shutdown, from August 19 to September 28 last year, was filed by a coalition of civil society groups working in Southeast Asia. The victory of the Press Freedom Defender Team over the lawsuit against the Minister of Communication and Information and the President of the Republic of Indonesia, is a good example of how citizens can respond to government’s unlawful management of public communication infrastructure like the Internet.
The internet is a primary source of information on the global COVID-19 pandemic. But Arakan (formally known as Rakhine State) in western Myanmar is now experiencing the longest internet shutdown in the world. The internet blockage has also caused a lack of information and knowledge concerning COVID-19.
