15 April 2026 By Ko Myo
NEW YORK, USA — Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, has issued a stark warning to the international community regarding the military junta’s use of technology to suppress the nation’s youth and dismantle their educational and professional futures.
Speaking at a UN headquarters meeting on April 14, the Ambassador highlighted how widespread internet shutdowns and website blockades have become central tools of oppression since the 2021 military coup.
Citing data from the OHCHR, Kyaw Moe Tun revealed that more than half of Myanmar’s 330 townships currently face severe restrictions on the right to access and share information. This digital blackout, combined with forced military conscription and systemic human rights abuses, has triggered a massive brain drain.
“According to UNDP reports, approximately 500,000 young people have fled the country to escape these challenges,” the Ambassador said. “The coup has forced them out of classrooms—some to take up arms in resistance, others to seek survival in foreign lands.”
A particularly chilling aspect of the Ambassador’s address was the exposure of the junta’s Personal Scrutinization and Monitoring System (PSMS). This infrastructure is reportedly used to track, identify, and arrest opponents of the regime and those participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
“It is deeply distressing that much of the surveillance infrastructure, telecommunications networks, and data centers used by the junta were imported from other UN member states,” Kyaw Moe Tun noted. He accused the military under Min Aung Hlaing of weaponizing this technology to spread disinformation and fake news through state-controlled Telegram channels and media outlets.
The Ambassador urged the international community to take decisive action against the junta’s “digital dictatorship.” He called for effective support for the people of Myanmar and the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF) in their collective effort to eradicate the military system.
“Min Aung Hlaing’s obsession with power has destroyed the entire country,” a Yangon-based political analyst told MPA. “While he claims he is not afraid to do anything, it is clear he is terrified of losing power, because his life and survival depend entirely on it.”
As the conflict in Myanmar enters a more entrenched phase, the Ambassador’s plea serves as a reminder that the war is being fought not only in the jungles and streets but also in the digital sphere, where the control of information has become a matter of life and death for an entire generation.
