Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector and Digital Rights - ကဏ္ဍများ
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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector and Digital Rights

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector and Digital Rights

In 2014-2015, MCRB and IHRB undertook a sector-wide impact assessment (SWIA) of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. This SWIA, published in September 2015, was intended to support responsible business practices in this growing sector of Myanmar’s economy.

A SWIA is a forward-looking assessment that aims to contribute to preventing and minimising the sector’s negative impacts as well as strengthening and improving the sector’s positive impacts.

Myanmar ICT Sector-Wide Impact Assessment (complete)
Document PDF, 10207 downloads, စက္တင္ဘာ 24, 2015
ICT SWIA - Executive Summary and Recommendations
Document PDF, 5145 downloads, စက္တင္ဘာ 24, 2015
ICT SWIA - Executive Summary and Recommendations (Burmese)
Document PDF, 6579 downloads, စက္တင္ဘာ 24, 2015
Linked Initiatives: Myanmar Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Sector
Document PDF, 2736 downloads, စက္တင္ဘာ 25, 2015


The SWIA was undertaken at a time when the roll-out of new ICT infrastructure and services in Myanmar was having a transformative impact on the country

The SWIA was undertaken at a time when the roll-out of new ICT infrastructure and services in Myanmar was having a transformative impact on the country, with mobile phone penetration having increased from 7% to 33% between 2012 and 2014, reaching a high of 154% in 2019 before falling. However, the headlong rush to improve access to ICT services brought challenges, in the absence of adequate policy and legal frameworks. This particularly concerning privacy and lawful interception (surveillance), cybersecurity, freedom of expression including online “hate speech” and “fake news”, and access to information, including internet shutdown.

These potential ‘on-line’ risks to human rights in the form of gaps and uncertainties in the policy and legal frameworks, particularly the 2013 Telecommunications Law, were identified in the SWIA. Many of them materialised in the ensuing decade.

In addition to general recommendations to government, companies, civil society, development partners, investors, and ICT users, MCRB and IHRB developed recommendations for  A Rights-Respecting Lawful Interception Framework as an Annex to the SWIA. The Linked Initiatives supplement outlined other organisations’ initiatives relating to ICT and human rights in Myanmar at the time of the SWIA in 2015.

Myanmar Digital Rights Forum

Following the SWIA, MCRB worked with other NGOs active on digital rights in Myanmar, including Free Expression Myanmar, Phandeeyar and Myanmar ICT Development Organisation (MIDO) to establish an annual Myanmar Digital Rights Forum (MDRF). The Forum aimed to promote an ongoing multistakeholder dialogue on freedom of expression, privacy, access to information and digital literacy and inclusion, and to widen the circle of organisations engaged on these issues.  The MDRF was held in in 2016, 20182019 and February 2020.  With MDRF partners, MCRB regularly campaigned after 2019 against internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin State.

Since 2022, the Myanmar Sustainable Business Network (MSBN) undertakes events and shares resources on digital literacy and digital rights, aiming to increase and maintain awareness.

Privacy issues and recommendations related to closed circuit TV (CCTV) were included in MCRB’s 2022 Baseline Assessment of Private Security Companies.  As part of MCRB’s work on disability inclusion, the use of assistive technologies was covered in an online event in 2021.

Several policy briefs were developed in 2019 to build and update the analysis of the SWIA.

Additionally MCRB pursued advocacy towards government and Parliament relating to the Universal Service Strategy, Telecoms Masterplan, and the evolving legal framework relating to defamation (Article 66d), privacy, cybersecurity, e-commerce, e-government, internet gateway services and SIM Card registration (links below).

In 2022 MCRB made inputs to the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights on the practical application of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to the activities of technology companies, and on  the right to privacy in the digital age.  These summarised MCRB’s experienced of the previous decade of working on these issues in Myanmar.

Information about MCRB’s activity in the ICT sector during the period 2013-2024:

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