Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................1
1. COVID-19 and Myanmar’s Securitized Response..........................................5
Overlap Between NDSC and COVID-19 Emergency
Response Committee Membership.......................................................................7
2. One Day, Three Declarations................................................................................8
3. Government Declarations Give Way to Arrests............................................13
4. Ethnic Responses to COVID-19 in the Context of Government
Exclusion, Resistance...............................................................................................17
Chin National Front (CNF).....................................................................................18
Karen National Union (KNU).................................................................................19
Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS)...........................................................19
New Mon State Party (NMSP)...............................................................................20
Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)..........................................................20
Karenni EAOs.............................................................................................................21
Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) and Ta’ang National
Liberation Army (TNLA).........................................................................................21
Myanmar’s IDP Camps: Overcrowded and Underserved .................................21
5. Coronavirus and the Civil War............................................................................24
Chin and Rakhine States..........................................................................................25
Reported Military Violence in Chin and Rakhine
States: 23 March – 30 April......................................................................................26
Karen State.................................................................................................................31
Shan State...................................................................................................................32
6. Political Exploitation of the Virus: ‘Fake News,’ Misinformation,
and Hate Speech........................................................................................................34
Promoting an agenda ...............................................................................................36
Coronavirus as an opportunity for political party promotion............................37
7. Same Centralized Health System, Same Aid Structures, New Virus.....41
‘Well-Equipped’ or ‘Ignoring Needs’?....................................................................41
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................44
Recommendations........................................................................................................46
To the Myanmar Military and the Myanmar Government.................................46
To International Donors, NGOs, Financial Institutions and Governments....47