Myanmar

In the midst of a global Covid-19 pandemic, Myanmar was plunged into crisis when its military seized ‎‎power in February 2021. The military takeover has dramatically reshaped the country’s conflict landscape, ‎‎abandoning a decade-old peace process and sparking a new wave of violence. ‎

As of February 2023, more than 16,000 people are detained, an estimated 3,000 civilians killed, and 1.5 ‎‎million displaced. The takeover, followed by the crackdown of the military junta, prompted an escalation in ‎‎fighting ‎across the country and a national uprising turned into an armed resistance movement. ‎ As ‎‎Myanmar appears to be heading for a protracted conflict, the need for civilian protection is greater than ‎‎ever. ‎

NP’s work in Myanmar

As Myanmar emerged from military rule in 2012 and embarked on a peace process, we extended our ‎support by promoting inclusive ceasefires. Between 2013 to 2018, we trained and coached more than 700 ‎community members from 8 different states in ceasefire monitoring and unarmed civilian protection and ‎supported them in establishing their own networks. We also provided training in ceasefire monitoring to ‎ethnic armed organisations and facilitated dialogue between ceasefire parties and civil society groups, ‎promoting civilian protection as an integral part of ceasefire processes. As we became more aware of the ‎specific needs of women and youth within ceasefire monitoring networks and the broader peace process, ‎we accelerated our efforts in strengthening their capacities. Since 2018 we have supported hundreds of ‎emerging women and youth leaders to respond to issues that are important to their communities and ‎connect them with leaders in others areas of the country. In areas where the peace process appeared to ‎be stagnating or absent, we worked with civilian protection networks to strengthen their resilience. Since ‎the military overthrew the government in 2021, we have continued to support local partners and others ‎who reached out to us for help in mitigating security threats and facilitating humanitarian assistance.‎

The future of NP’s work in Myanmar

As so many civilians in Myanmar are living in the midst of violence and insecurity, our first priority is to ‎assist our partners and other unarmed civilians who reach out to us in keeping themselves and each other ‎safe. We will work in particular to strengthen the resilience of women, youth and displaced people in ‎conflict-affected areas. Secondly, as Myanmar plunges deeper into economic collapse, we will continue to ‎support humanitarian actors in delivering assistance in ways that protect themselves and the people they ‎serve. Thirdly, we will work to support local initiatives of unarmed civilian protection and nonviolence.‎