Myanmar More Than Three Years into the Coup, and Prospects for the Future

Asia In-Depth

Two human rights experts and members of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, Yanghee Lee and Chris Sidoti, join Asia Society Executive Vice President and Asia Society Policy Institute Senior Fellow Debra Eisenman to discuss the current state of play in Myanmar, where effective control of the country lies, and prospects and recommendations for the future.

Myanmar, a country of over 50 million people, which was under military rule for decades and has been embroiled in a more than 70-year civil war, was for nearly 10 years starting in 2011, undergoing a top-down democratic transition. This came to an abrupt and brutal halt in February 2021 with a military coup. The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar is an independent group of international experts working to support the peoples of Myanmar in their struggle for human rights, peace, democracy, justice, and accountability. The Council has just released a paper on the status of military control of the country.