As Myanmar’s military continues its systematic eradication of press freedom and persecution of the country’s remaining independent media, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined seven global union federations in calling for the immediate removal of the junta-aligned Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) from the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum (SEANF). The IFJ condemns the ongoing targeting of media workers and trade unionists by Myanmar’s de facto authorities and urges the SEANF to swiftly sever ties with the MNHRC.
Myanmar’s junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun speaks to the media during a ceremony to mark the country’s Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw on March 27, 2025. Credit: AFP
The joint statement released on September 4 by the International Trade Union Confederation – Asia Pacific (ITUC Asia-Pacific) and the Global Union Federations Asia Pacific Regional Organisations (GUF-APRO), signed by union federations including IFJ, IndustriALL, UNI Global Union, and Public Services International, condemned the MNHRC’s failure to investigate the junta’s severe human rights violations and ‘crimes against humanity’ in the four years since the military coup in February 2021. The GUFs said the MNHRC functioned as a ‘mouthpiece of the military regime’, citing its “lack of independence, impartiality, and responsiveness to the human rights crisis in Myanmar”.
Since the coup, the regime has killed at least seven journalists, according to the IFJ’s affiliate, Myanmar Journalists Network (MJN). As of August 2025, the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law has recorded at least 223 journalists detained, with 91 sentenced to a combined 511 years’ imprisonment. 22 per cent of those convicted face extreme prison sentences between 10 to 27 years, with 49 journalists remaining behind bars. IFJ has monitored the military’s use of incitement allegations and counter-terrorism legislation, including Section 52(a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code, to arbitrarily detain and silence critical voices, including journalists, trade unionists, and human rights activists.
The eight GUFs urged all SEANF member institutions to publicly clarify their position on MNHRC’s ongoing membership, reform the forum’s membership criteria in line with the Paris Principles for human rights, immediately suspend or remove the MNHRC from SEANF, and refuse any joint initiatives involving the MNHRC. The statement said the MNHRC’s silence on the junta’s extrajudicial killings and mass arrests of media workers has “contributed to the erosion of press freedom and emboldened impunity.”
The MNHRC was stripped of its Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions accreditation in December 2024 and removed from the Asia Pacific Forum in May 2025 for failing to comply with the Paris Principles. The International Labour Organisation found Myanmar’s junta in persistent violation of labour rights, particularly freedom of association and the ban on forced labour, leading to the historic use of Article 33 in its constitution to sanction the junta on June 5, 2025.
The IFJ said: “Far from acting as an independent watchdog, the MNHRC has consistently echoed the military’s narrative, minimising atrocities against media workers and legitimising a regime responsible for the persecution of journalists, trade unionists, activists and civilians. As Myanmar’s media community inside the country and in exile continue to face violence, jailing, harassment, and intimidation, SEANF must not continue to enable the perpetration of impunity for crimes against humanity and must immediately expel the MNHRC.”
Read the full statement here.
