Dr Aung Myint Kyaw

Myanmar Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases

Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.

We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.

Occupation

• Country Witness Expert on Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos
• Human Rights Specialist
• Legal Researcher and Academic Consultant
• Independent Journalist and Investigative Reporter on Human Rights

Expertise

I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:

Myanmar: Since the February 2021 military coup, Myanmar's security forces have conducted a campaign of mass atrocity against the civilian population, employing extrajudicial killings, airstrikes on populated areas, mass arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence to suppress the pro-democracy movement, with activists, journalists, medical workers, and elected officials targeted for arrest and killing. The Rohingya Muslim population in Rakhine State continues to face conditions amounting to genocide, including denial of citizenship, confinement to camps, and ongoing violence, while other ethnic minorities — including Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, and Shan — face military offensives characterized by forced displacement, destruction of villages, and extrajudicial killings. Women and girls are subjected to sexual violence by military personnel as a deliberate weapon of conflict, and forced recruitment of both adults and children into military service has escalated. LGBT individuals face criminal penalties under colonial-era legislation and face severe societal stigma, with transgender women particularly vulnerable to police harassment and violence, and the Rohingya remain one of the largest stateless populations in the world, denied citizenship and documentation by deliberate state policy.

Thailand: Thailand's lese-majeste laws and sedition provisions are used to prosecute political dissidents, pro-democracy activists, and student leaders who call for reform of the monarchy or challenge military-aligned governance, with lengthy prison sentences effectively criminalizing peaceful political expression. Ethnic minorities in the northern highlands, including Hmong, Lisu, and Karen communities, face barriers to citizenship, statelessness, and vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation, while Malay Muslim communities in the deep south face extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and martial law restrictions in the context of the ongoing insurgency. Women face trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation, domestic violence, and inadequate protection for victims of sexual assault. LGBT individuals in Thailand have relatively greater social visibility, but face legal inequality, employment discrimination, and barriers to gender recognition, and asylum seekers and refugees — particularly those from Myanmar — lack legal status and face arrest, detention, and refoulement.

Laos: The Lao People's Democratic Republic maintains single-party authoritarian rule, with political dissent met by enforced disappearance — most notably the unresolved case of prominent civil society leader Sombath Somphone — surveillance, and imprisonment, and citizens who advocate for land rights, environmental protection, or democratic reform face severe repression. The Hmong ethnic minority faces a legacy of persecution stemming from their involvement in the Vietnam-era conflict, with communities in remote areas subjected to military operations, forced relocation, and denial of services, and Hmong who have fled to third countries face risk of refoulement. Women in rural and ethnic minority communities face early marriage, domestic violence, and limited access to education and healthcare. LGBT individuals face societal stigma and absence of legal protections, and religious communities — including Christians in Hmong and Khmu communities — face restrictions on worship, destruction of churches, and pressure to renounce faith.

Experience

• Served as an expert witness in over 65 asylum proceedings before UK immigration tribunals and US immigration courts, covering political persecution, ethnic minority claims, and Rohingya statelessness cases from Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos.
• Provided expert evidence to the Upper Tribunal and the Board of Immigration Appeals on the post-coup situation in Myanmar, the treatment of Rohingya in Rakhine State, and the risks facing returned asylum seekers across mainland Southeast Asia.
• Authored country condition reports on military governance, ethnic conflict, and the treatment of refugees and stateless populations in the region for legal practitioners and international protection organisations.
• Held a teaching and research position in Political Science and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Yangon, with extensive fieldwork on ethnic conflict, displacement, and governance in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos.
• Worked with international non-governmental organisations and UN agencies to document mass atrocities, forced displacement, and the humanitarian situation of refugees along the Myanmar-Thailand and Myanmar-Bangladesh borders. Expert member of The Human Rights Experts.

Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

• Burmese (Native)
• English (Fluent)
• Thai (Professional proficiency)
• Lao (Conversational)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups

Contact Email

info@thehuman-rights.com