Myanmar: The Military Coup and its Effects on Global Migration
By Lauren Mai
Vigil opposing the Tatmadaw’s coup in Myanmar
On February 1st, 2021 the Tatmadaw launched a military coup on Myanmar’s democracy following the landslide win of Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party. Suu Kyi was instantly detained and placed under house arrest for violating Covid-19 restrictions during last year’s election campaign and publishing information that may have caused ‘fear or alarm.’ In response, hundreds of thousands of people across Myanmar have taken to the streets to protest the coup, with the Tatmadaw killing hundreds in retaliation. Two officials from Suu Kyi’s party died in custody, with one facing such brutal torture that all of his teeth were knocked out.
Historical Context
The military coup of 2021 is not the only hardship Myanmar has faced. Myanmar has had a long, complex history through a tumultuous series of regimes, dating back as early as their colonization period. Following their independence from Great Britain in 1948, the civilian government was weak, ultimately ruled by the military from 1962 to 1988. Things took a turn towards democracy when the NLD won a majority of the seats in parliament in 1990, but the SLORC (the Burmese military party now known as the SPDC) returned the country to martial law as a desperate measure to maintain their power. In 2008, a new political opening occurred, when a referendum was held and a new constitution implemented allowing elections once more. Myanmar finally took major strides towards democracy in 2015, as the NLD won enough seats in parliament to form a government, bringing the country back under civilian rule. Aung San Suu Kyi led Myanmar from 2015 until the coup in February, but despite bringing the country closer to democracy, faces criticism for her tacit consent of the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority as well as her lack of control of and general deference to the Burmese army.
International Reaction and Effects on Migration
Immediate reactions to the Myanmar coup have been varied throughout the international community. China urged both sides of the coup to resolve their differences, with Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, stating he ‘hope[s] all parties will properly handle their differences under the Constitution and legal framework to maintain political and social stability.’ The US and UK quickly placed sanctions on Burmese military officials, with the US recently granting Myanmar nationals ‘relief from deportation.’
As of March 12th, 2021, 1,600 Burmese people who are already in the US are eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. The TPS allows immigrants who cannot return to their countries safely, whether that be because of natural disasters or armed conflict, to legally stay and work in the US until the expiration date, which is open to renewal if need be.
Contrastingly, fellow ASEAN states have been less accommodating to the conflict, with Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines publicly declaring it to be an ‘internal matter,’ and that there will be no intervention on their end. Malaysia put further stress on the issue by going through with its deportation of 1,200 Myanmar migrants (for reasons unrelated to the coup) on February 23rd of 2021. The only exceptions it made for deported migrants were those who were part of the Muslim Rohingya minority as well as those registered within the UN refugee agency. But after mass global protests by human rights organizations, a Malaysian court ordered a temporary halt on the order to listen to the appeals of Amnesty International and Asylum Access, who argued that refugees, asylum seekers, and minors were all being sent back and ultimately being placed in greater danger.
As of March 22nd, the Malaysian government has yet to respond to the condemnation of their deportation from human rights groups worldwide.
