The People’s Revolution in Myanmar Five Years After the Coup

Myanmar’s military junta overthrew the elected government five years ago on February 1, resulting in a “human rights nightmare.” The current election has been labeled a sham. How should the international community respond? And what might a constitutional democracy look like if the people’s revolution prevails?

Join Myanmar’s Ambassador to the UN, Kyaw Moe Tun, on the five-year anniversary of the revolutionary movement in Myanmar (Burma). Ambassador Tun will highlight the endurance and creativity of the resistance throughout Myanmar that continues despite harsh repression. He will assess the shortcomings of the international response, including the Trump administration’s reversal of sanctions and the ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Myanmar nationals in the United States. He will also envision the future of a post-coup Myanmar. He will be in conversation with Tom Ginsburg, the Leo Spitz Distinguished Service Professor of International Law in the Law School.

Currently, the military junta continues its campaign of violence and oppression against the people of Myanmar despite controlling only one quarter of the country. According to Thomas Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, "Junta forces have continued airstrikes on civilian targets, including schools, clinics, monasteries, and displacement camps. Over 100,000 civilian homes have been destroyed in arson attacks. 3.6 million people are displaced, and nearly 22 million require humanitarian assistance…(Now) the junta is making a desperate bid to manufacture a façade of legitimacy by holding sham elections."

Boxed lunch will be provided. Please submit dietary requests eight business days prior to the program to Aican Nguyen at aican@uchicago.edu. Although we will try to accommodate dietary needs, it is not guaranteed.

About the Speaker(s)

Ambassador Mr. Kyaw Moe Tun assumed the role of Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations on 20 October 2020. Ambassador Tun spoke out against the Myanmar military coup on 26 February 2021, during a session of the United Nations General Assembly. In that speech, he condemned the military’s takeover of the democratically elected government and called on the international community to take strong action to restore democracy and not recognize the junta. He said, “We will continue to fight for a government which is of the people, by the people, and for the people." As Myanmar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Tun has continued to convey the voices and aspirations of the people of Myanmar to the international community through the UN platform.

Before this appointment, Ambassador Mr. Kyaw Moe Tun was Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, as well as the Conference on Disarmament, from July 2018 to October 2020. He concurrently served as Ambassador to Switzerland and as Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

From 2016 to 2018, he was Director-General for International Organizations and Economic Development at Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between 1993 and 2015, he held a range of Government positions in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, as well as diplomatic postings at the Myanmar Embassies in Indonesia, Singapore, and Myanmar’s Permanent Missions in Switzerland and the United States.

He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the International University of Japan and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Yangon.

About the Discussant(s)

Tom Ginsburg is the Leo Spitz Distinguished Service Professor of International Law in the Law School, Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar, Professor in the Department of Political Science, and serves as the faculty director of the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression. He also serves as co-chair of the Pozen Center Faculty Board.

Co-sponsors