The restrictions imposed by the governing authoritarian military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), make human rights related activities almost impossible within Burma.

Freedom of assembly, association and expression are drastically limited. Pro-democracy activists advocating civil and political rights, defenders criticising government action,including denouncing forced labour and land confiscation by local authorities, and those who defend the rights of political prisoners or ethnic minorities are targeted.

Despite the severe SPDC regime, the UN reports that small groups active in the defence of human rights continue to function. The Government adopted a National Convention, on which basis a new Constitution should be drafted. However, the Convention is unfavorable to human rights defenders in several aspects, including the fact that criticism of the Convention is punishable with up to twenty years imprisonment.

Furthermore, the Convention ensures the primacy of the military as well as its immunity from judicial scrutiny. Vaguely worded and broadly interpreted state security offences carry harsh penalties and are used against defenders who speak out against the actions of the authorities.

Freedom of association is practically non-existent in a human rights context, the SPDC having prohibited both international and national human rights NGOs from operating in the country. As to freedom of assembly, meetings of more than 5 people are prohibited by law. Since 2007, Myanmar has seen an escalation in mass peaceful protests. The military dispersed these peaceful demonstrations by using excessive force, including by beating and opening fire on demonstrators, causing at least nine deaths and hundreds of injuries.

In February 2008, the Government issued the Referendum Law for the Approval of the Draft Constitution, which provided for a prison term of up to three years and/or a substantial fine for anyone caught campaigning against the referendum. The Government used the law to detain many activists, among whom journalists and human rights defenders were particularly targeted.

Freedom of expression in all media is extremely limited. The print and broadcast media are tightly controlled, while restrictions on and surveillance of internet use and content are severe. Individuals have been arrested for distributing the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and for reporting cases of forced labour to the International Labour Organisation.

Gangs of thugs, most apparently under the direction of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a mass-organising body, were used to attack various human rights defenders, and in some cases police or government officials are among those carrying out or organising the attacks.

Defenders have been subjected to harassment, assault, arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, long-term detention without trial, detention and conviction without access to legal counsel, solitary confinement for protracted periods, ill-treatment and torture while in custody including denial of medical treatment, and long-term house arrest.

Those who suffer human rights abuses have hardly any recourse to legal redress since the judiciary is weak and lacking in independence. The families of human rights defenders are also targeted. Many defenders have been forced into exile.