{"id":1872560,"date":"2026-04-08T15:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1872560"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:48:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:48:00","slug":"human-rights-watchs-elaine-pearson-on-myanmar-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1872560","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Watch’s Elaine Pearson on Myanmar election"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76711576_6.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5Brnk<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
Norway’s Telenor operated in Myanmar for almost a decade during the partial democratization that’s since been rolled backImage: Davide Bonaldo\/SOPA Images\/ZUMA\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Telenor is facing a class action lawsuit in Norway<\/a> over the actions of its subsidiary in Myanmar<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case alleges that Telenor Myanmar passed phone data of more than 1,200 people to the country’s military junta following the 2021 coup.<\/p>\n

The company, which is 54% owned by Norway’s government, has since withdrawn from Myanmar as internal conflict\u00a0intensified\u00a0in the aftermath of the removal of a more civilian-led government under Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a>\u00a0that temporarily ruled the troubled the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"In
In 2014, amid hopes for a new system of governance in the Myanmar, Telenor set up a subsidiary in the countryImage: Khin Maung Win\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What wrongdoing is Telenor accused of?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

The class action lawsuit, filed by a Swedish non-profit called the Justice and Accountability Initiative, alleges that the company endangered customers by passing information on to the military government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among other things, it alleges that the data led to the\u00a02022 execution of a prominent government opponent and lawmaker, Phyo Zeya Thaw<\/a>, and the arrest and jailing of civil society activist Aung Thu.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims Telenor is liable for \u20ac9,000 (roughly $10,500) \u200bper customer whose data was shared.<\/p>\n

“If successful, this case would be the first ever to hold a telecoms company to account for not sufficiently protecting user data from \u200baccess by an authoritarian regime,” said Beini Ye, legal counsel at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is supporting \u200bthe case.<\/p>\n

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Human Rights Watch’s Elaine Pearson on Myanmar election<\/h2>\n

How did the company respond?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Telenor was first informed that the lawsuit was being prepared last October, and said at the time that it had been “legally required to provide traffic data to the authorities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

It said in a statement to news agencies Reuters and AFP on Wednesday that non-compliance could have led to “imprisonment, torture or the death penalty,” for its subsidiary’s local employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Telenor Myanmar was operating on the ground in a war zone,” it said. “Telenor Myanmar had no real options. We could not play Russian roulette with the lives of our employees.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company said that it would be “terrible if data from Telenor had been misused by the authorities,” but it also said that Myanmar’s junta bore sole responsibility for its treatment of its citizens and “neither Telenor nor any other civilian organization has that responsibility.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Senior
When General Min Aung Hlaing and the military reclaimed control in 2021, he promised a return to elected leadership within a year; it ultimately took him five years to deliver a vote in the midst of internal conflict, which he wonImage: Aung Shine Oo\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When was Telenor active in Myanmar?<\/h2>\n

Telenor won a tender process in 2013, soon after the military agreed to the formation of a semi-democratic political system. It started operating in Myanmar in 2014 and had more than 18 million customers by 2021.<\/p>\n

But in January 2021, soon after elections, the still-influential military reclaimed total control in a coup<\/a>, with civil unrest and state repression following soon after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June of 2021, with the conflict intensifying, Telenor announced its intentions to sell its subsidiary; it completed its exit by March 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that the release of data while Telenor was still in control led to abuses before and after the Norwegian company’s exit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aung Thu, a civil society activist arrested in September 2021, told Reuters his information was among the data allegedly shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I am hoping for justice, not just for myself, but for all the people of Myanmar,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phyo\u00a0Zeya Thaw, a popular hip hop singer who was a lawmaker in the civilian government, was hanged in 2022 along with three other activists accused of helping carry out acts of terrorirsm. The lawsuit\u00a0alleges that Telenor had shared his phone data earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It is not just a wife losing her husband,” his wife Tha Zin said in a statement. “It is also a loss to democracy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

New Thai labor scheme offers hope for Myanmar refugees<\/h2>\n

Edited by: Kieran Burke<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Telenor is facing a class action lawsuit in Norway<\/a> over the actions of its subsidiary in Myanmar<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case alleges that Telenor Myanmar passed phone data of more than 1,200 people to the country’s military junta following the 2021 coup.<\/p>\n

The company, which is 54% owned by Norway’s government, has since withdrawn from Myanmar as internal conflict\u00a0intensified\u00a0in the aftermath of the removal of a more civilian-led government under Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a>\u00a0that temporarily ruled the troubled the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"In
In 2014, amid hopes for a new system of governance in the Myanmar, Telenor set up a subsidiary in the countryImage: Khin Maung Win\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What wrongdoing is Telenor accused of?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

The class action lawsuit, filed by a Swedish non-profit called the Justice and Accountability Initiative, alleges that the company endangered customers by passing information on to the military government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among other things, it alleges that the data led to the\u00a02022 execution of a prominent government opponent and lawmaker, Phyo Zeya Thaw<\/a>, and the arrest and jailing of civil society activist Aung Thu.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims Telenor is liable for \u20ac9,000 (roughly $10,500) \u200bper customer whose data was shared.<\/p>\n

“If successful, this case would be the first ever to hold a telecoms company to account for not sufficiently protecting user data from \u200baccess by an authoritarian regime,” said Beini Ye, legal counsel at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is supporting \u200bthe case.<\/p>\n

\n

Human Rights Watch’s Elaine Pearson on Myanmar election<\/h2>\n

How did the company respond?\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Telenor was first informed that the lawsuit was being prepared last October, and said at the time that it had been “legally required to provide traffic data to the authorities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

It said in a statement to news agencies Reuters and AFP on Wednesday that non-compliance could have led to “imprisonment, torture or the death penalty,” for its subsidiary’s local employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Telenor Myanmar was operating on the ground in a war zone,” it said. “Telenor Myanmar had no real options. We could not play Russian roulette with the lives of our employees.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company said that it would be “terrible if data from Telenor had been misused by the authorities,” but it also said that Myanmar’s junta bore sole responsibility for its treatment of its citizens and “neither Telenor nor any other civilian organization has that responsibility.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Senior
When General Min Aung Hlaing and the military reclaimed control in 2021, he promised a return to elected leadership within a year; it ultimately took him five years to deliver a vote in the midst of internal conflict, which he wonImage: Aung Shine Oo\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When was Telenor active in Myanmar?<\/h2>\n

Telenor won a tender process in 2013, soon after the military agreed to the formation of a semi-democratic political system. It started operating in Myanmar in 2014 and had more than 18 million customers by 2021.<\/p>\n

But in January 2021, soon after elections, the still-influential military reclaimed total control in a coup<\/a>, with civil unrest and state repression following soon after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June of 2021, with the conflict intensifying, Telenor announced its intentions to sell its subsidiary; it completed its exit by March 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that the release of data while Telenor was still in control led to abuses before and after the Norwegian company’s exit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aung Thu, a civil society activist arrested in September 2021, told Reuters his information was among the data allegedly shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I am hoping for justice, not just for myself, but for all the people of Myanmar,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phyo\u00a0Zeya Thaw, a popular hip hop singer who was a lawmaker in the civilian government, was hanged in 2022 along with three other activists accused of helping carry out acts of terrorirsm. The lawsuit\u00a0alleges that Telenor had shared his phone data earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It is not just a wife losing her husband,” his wife Tha Zin said in a statement. “It is also a loss to democracy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

New Thai labor scheme offers hope for Myanmar refugees<\/h2>\n

Edited by: Kieran Burke<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Telenor is facing a class action lawsuit in Norway<\/a> over the actions of its subsidiary in Myanmar<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case alleges that Telenor Myanmar passed phone data of more than 1,200 people to the country’s military junta following the 2021 coup.<\/p>\n

The company, which is 54% owned by Norway’s government, has since withdrawn from Myanmar as internal conflict\u00a0intensified\u00a0in the aftermath of the removal of a more civilian-led government under Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a>\u00a0that temporarily ruled the troubled the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The class action lawsuit, filed by a Swedish non-profit called the Justice and Accountability Initiative, alleges that the company endangered customers by passing information on to the military government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among other things, it alleges that the data led to the\u00a02022 execution of a prominent government opponent and lawmaker, Phyo Zeya Thaw<\/a>, and the arrest and jailing of civil society activist Aung Thu.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims Telenor is liable for \u20ac9,000 (roughly $10,500) \u200bper customer whose data was shared.<\/p>\n

“If successful, this case would be the first ever to hold a telecoms company to account for not sufficiently protecting user data from \u200baccess by an authoritarian regime,” said Beini Ye, legal counsel at the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is supporting \u200bthe case.<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

Telenor was first informed that the lawsuit was being prepared last October, and said at the time that it had been “legally required to provide traffic data to the authorities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

It said in a statement to news agencies Reuters and AFP on Wednesday that non-compliance could have led to “imprisonment, torture or the death penalty,” for its subsidiary’s local employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Telenor Myanmar was operating on the ground in a war zone,” it said. “Telenor Myanmar had no real options. We could not play Russian roulette with the lives of our employees.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company said that it would be “terrible if data from Telenor had been misused by the authorities,” but it also said that Myanmar’s junta bore sole responsibility for its treatment of its citizens and “neither Telenor nor any other civilian organization has that responsibility.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Telenor won a tender process in 2013, soon after the military agreed to the formation of a semi-democratic political system. It started operating in Myanmar in 2014 and had more than 18 million customers by 2021.<\/p>\n

But in January 2021, soon after elections, the still-influential military reclaimed total control in a coup<\/a>, with civil unrest and state repression following soon after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June of 2021, with the conflict intensifying, Telenor announced its intentions to sell its subsidiary; it completed its exit by March 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that the release of data while Telenor was still in control led to abuses before and after the Norwegian company’s exit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aung Thu, a civil society activist arrested in September 2021, told Reuters his information was among the data allegedly shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I am hoping for justice, not just for myself, but for all the people of Myanmar,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phyo\u00a0Zeya Thaw, a popular hip hop singer who was a lawmaker in the civilian government, was hanged in 2022 along with three other activists accused of helping carry out acts of terrorirsm. The lawsuit\u00a0alleges that Telenor had shared his phone data earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It is not just a wife losing her husband,” his wife Tha Zin said in a statement. “It is also a loss to democracy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

Edited by: Kieran Burke<\/em><\/p>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/norways-telenor-faces-lawsuit-for-giving-junta-data-from-its-customers-in-myanmar\/a-76710104″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76711576_6.jpg”] https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5Brnk Norway’s Telenor operated in Myanmar for almost a decade during the partial democratization that’s since been rolled backImage: Davide Bonaldo\/SOPA Images\/ZUMA\/picture alliance Telenor is facing a class action lawsuit in Norway over the actions of its subsidiary in Myanmar.\u00a0 The case alleges that Telenor Myanmar passed phone data of more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,74],"class_list":["post-1872560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dw-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1872560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1872560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1872560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1872560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}