If Anyone Doesn't Know A Pandemic In This World, It Must Be Thousands Of People In The Myanmar Conflict Area

JAKARTA - Hundreds of thousands of people trapped in a fierce conflict area in Myanmar's western tip may not know anything about COVID-19. This is due to internet disconnection for a year. This was reported by human rights groups.

The Myanmar government, led by de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, cut off internet access to nine cities in the area, CNN launched on Wednesday. The government is concerned that if the area is given the internet it will foment clashes between Myanmar's military and rebels.

In May, one of the townships in the area had its internet service restored. But eight other cities, with a total population of around 800,000 people, remain on the cutting edge.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say cutting out old sources of information is life-threatening. Not only because it prevents people from reporting possible human rights violations, but because it cuts them off from public health campaigns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

"With the armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army in Rakhine State during this pandemic, it is very important for civilians to have the information they need to stay safe," Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

As of Monday 22 June, Myanmar has recorded six deaths and 292 positive cases of COVID-19. A total of 64,532 people have been tested, according to Myanmar's Ministry of Health. A number of cases have been found in the cities of Maungdaw and Buthidaung in northern Rakhine state, where more than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims live in overcrowded camps.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world in early 2020, the Government of Myanmar launched a 'No Person Left Behind' information campaign. The campaign contains about preventing disease transmission, one of which is requiring physical distancing.

But lawmaker Htoot May, who represents the Arakan National League for Democracy in the Upper House of the Union of Myanmar Parliament, said that many people living in northern Rakhine state did not receive public health-related notifications. This is because the campaign is spread via messaging applications and social media, which require an internet network.

"When I asked people in my constituency if they were aware of COVID-19, I had to explain the global pandemic to them from the start," said Htoot May.

"They are not afraid of COVID-19 because they don't know it, at this stage they are much more worried about fighting," he added.

Conflict broke out in late 2018 between Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army, who are "defenders" of ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State and considered insurgents. When the conflict erupted, internet shutdowns resulted in more deaths of civilians who denied direct people's information, according to an open letter published by a coalition of political groups and the Rakhine community.

Clashes have intensified despite internet outages. A total of 151 civilians were killed and 344 wounded in crossfire between January and May, according to the open letter.

Both the Arakan Army and Myanmar military have been accused of committing atrocities. Khine Kyaw Moe, a lawmaker representing the Rakhine National Party, said that without an internet connection, the atrocities could be reported and not documented.

"The two forces may be committing human rights violations and, without the internet, people are cut off from journalists, local NGOs and international ones," said Khine Kyaw Moe.