Myanmar junta’s crackdown on civil society deepened earthquake crisis, report finds

Mizzima

Myanmar’s military junta systematically obstructed civil society and independent humanitarian response following the devastating March 28 earthquake, according to a new report by the International Centre For-Not-Profit Law (ICNL).

The report, “Civic Aftershock: How Restricting Civil Society Obstructed Myanmar’s Earthquake Response,” accuses the junta of weaponizing the disaster to entrench its control and suppress civic freedoms.

The 2025 quake, which left tens of thousands displaced, was “a profound human tragedy compounded by harmful State response,” the report said. 

Citing the junta’s use of the 2022 Organization Registration Law – which criminalizes unregistered associations – the group found that authorities imposed arbitrary permissions on aid operations and created a hostile legal environment that “systematically obstructed and co-opted” relief efforts.

Aid workers faced a web of travel bans, checkpoints, and curfews that blocked access to affected areas. Independent media were silenced, while the regime enforced an information blackout through censorship and propaganda. Civil society volunteers were reportedly subjected to arbitrary arrests, violence, and politically motivated prosecutions.

Despite the repression, the report highlights that informal and unregistered local network operated clandestinely to deliver life-saving aid, reflecting “profound resilience” among Myanmar’s grassroots organizations.

ICNL urged the international community to recognize these informal networks and channel direct funding to them, bypassing military-controlled mechanisms. It also called for sustained diplomatic pressure on the junta to repeal restrictive laws and restore civic space, warning that the military remains “the primary obstacle to a rights-respecting civil society response to natural disasters.”