Naing Naing

Naing Naing (not his real name) lives in the north of Myanmar/Burma. He has been working for more than ten years on human rights and peacebuilding issues in the context of a struggling democracy and peace process. Myanmar’s progress on these fronts went backwards in early 2021, when a violent military coup overthrew the civilian government and plunged the country into violent social unrest and economic collapse.

Naing Naing has worked for several peacebuilding and human rights-based organisations, and is the co-founder of a local civil society organisation working on human rights and legal issues. His work has focused on human rights documentation, human rights training, research and advocacy to the UN and international communities. Before the military coup and covid 19 lead to a strict and violent lockdown, Naing Naing used to travel throughout South-East Asia, and to Europe to raise concerns about the human rights situation in Myanmar.

Naing Naing’s fellowship supports his work to respond to the human rights dimensions of this crisis, alongside other activists that have not fled to the border or overseas. Naing Naing collaborates with human rights defenders across Myanmar, and in this time of deep political crisis and proliferating human rights abuses, he will be working to strengthen his own skills and the capacity of local human rights networks to enable them to monitor, report, advocate and collaborate with international networks and human rights organisations.