Democracy and human rights in Myanmar

Submission Date: 6 February 2026

The Law Council of Australia provided a submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee (the Committee) as part of its inquiry into democracy and human rights in Myanmar.

1 February 2026 marks five years since armed forces launched an unconstitutional military coup d’état against the democratically elected government in Myanmar. During this period, the Law Council has continued to express concern at the continued and systemic curtailment of civil liberties and grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Myanmar, including through media releases and interventions at the United Nations Human Rights Council.¹

The Terms of Reference of this inquiry invite specific consideration of the phased elections organised by the military in December 2025 and January 2026, and the barriers to a return to an inclusive civilian democratic government.

The Law Council notes that credible publicly-available information and reporting indicates that these elections fall short of relevant international standards.

This inquiry also provides an opportunity for the Committee to reflect on the Australian Government’s use of targeted sanctions measures in relation to Myanmar. The Law Council recommends improvements to the transparency of Australia’s sanctions regime and the introduction of a requirement that in considering the imposition of sanctions, the relevant Minister should have regard to information obtained through civil society organisations.

Finally, this submission highlights the Law Council’s ongoing concerns regarding the use of the death penalty to target pro-democracy advocates. This has been a continued focus of advocacy for the Law Council and should be a discrete focus of the government in line with Australia’s Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty.²

^{1 See for example, Law Council of Australia, Law Council condemns violence in Myanmar (Media Statement, 3 March 2021); Law Council of Australia, Oral Statement in the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (Statement, 6 July 2021).
2 Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia’s Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty (June 2018).}

Last Updated on 03/03/2026

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