{"id":10014,"date":"2026-08-31T22:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/?p=10014"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:43:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:13:00","slug":"the-collapse-of-rule-of-law-and-social-trust-during-myanmars-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/2026\/08\/the-collapse-of-rule-of-law-and-social-trust-during-myanmars-civil-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Collapse of Rule of Law and Social Trust During Myanmar\u2019s Civil War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Myanmar Spring Chronicle \u2013 Scenes from August<\/em> 30<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

(MoeMaKa), August 31, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Collapse of Rule of Law and Social Trust During Myanmar\u2019s Civil War<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I read a report about an incident at a checkpoint in Muse operated by an armed group affiliated with the Northern Alliance. A vehicle reportedly failed to stop for inspection and drove away. Armed personnel at the checkpoint opened fire on the vehicle, killing the woman who was driving it at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few days earlier, a similar incident occurred at a KIA checkpoint on the Muse\u2013Namkham road. When checkpoint personnel attempted to stop a passing vehicle, the driver apparently did not hear them. A KIA member fired at the vehicle, injuring the local driver. According to reports, residents from a nearby village later went to the checkpoint and destroyed its shelters in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar reports frequently emerge from areas controlled by the military regime, where people have been shot for failing to stop at checkpoints or for apparently not hearing or seeing orders to halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armed forces of various sides appear to operate on the assumption that almost any action can be justified in the name of security. Yet in incidents involving shootings such as these, it is rare to hear that the security personnel responsible have been investigated, disciplined or punished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These examples concern abuses by armed forces against civilians. At the same time, violence among civilians has also become increasingly disturbing. Reports of murder, rape, rape followed by murder and concealment of bodies, robbery and killing, armed robbery, and even the killing of entire families during robberies have become increasingly common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent report from a village in Hsipaw Township in northern Shan State illustrates the severity of the problem. According to news reports citing an SSPP\/SSA announcement, a man accused of raping and murdering his female cousin and concealing her body was arrested by the SSPP\/SSA, sentenced to death and executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar cases of rape and murder have also been reported in Rakhine State in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is violent crime becoming so widespread?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are rape, murder and robbery-related killings occurring so frequently in different parts of the country?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simplest answer is the collapse of the rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective rule of law depends upon functioning institutions, sound governance and a competent government. Myanmar\u2019s inability to establish these conditions has been a problem stretching back decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between early 2011 and the military coup of 2021, there were at least efforts to establish better systems of governance. At the same time, peace negotiations were pursued with armed organizations involved in the country\u2019s long-running civil conflicts, with the broader objective of creating a more stable system of government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even during those years, however, extrajudicial killings and deaths resulting from torture and abuse continued to occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the 2021 military coup, the country\u2019s already fragile rule-of-law institutions and efforts to build better governance were thrown dramatically backward. Myanmar did not merely lose the progress it had attempted to make over roughly a decade. In many respects, the country regressed to conditions reminiscent of much earlier decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armed rule replacing civilian institutions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first major problem is that during civil war, regardless of which armed organization controls a particular territory, civilian administration often becomes suspended or marginalized. Armed forces assume administrative, judicial and rule-making powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is frequently justified through language such as an \u201cemergency period.\u201d In practice, however, it can mean that nearly all governing authority within an area becomes concentrated in the hands of the individual or organization commanding the armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under such circumstances, military victory or security can be invoked to justify almost any action, with little requirement to respect established laws, procedures or safeguards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This creates conditions in which armed organizations can commit abuses against civilians while paying little attention to legal accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, institutions that are supposed to protect civilians are increasingly redirected toward fighting the war. Professional police forces familiar with criminal law and independent courts capable of making decisions without having to satisfy political or military authorities cease to function effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is an environment in which committing crimes becomes much easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War, poverty and impunity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War has also produced severe economic hardship and shortages of money and resources. People already struggling to survive may increasingly prey upon others who are facing the same difficulties, leading to robbery, violence and exploitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lower the likelihood that perpetrators will be punished, the greater the opportunity for crime to spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weapons have also become relatively easy to obtain in some areas, making robbery and murder easier to carry out. After committing crimes, perpetrators may escape into territories controlled by different authorities. Meanwhile, victims often have no reliable institution to which they can report crimes or seek justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, these conditions create an environment that enables further criminal activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hidden casualties of the civil war<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the more than five years since the 2021 military coup, Myanmar\u2019s armed resistance and civil war have produced some highly visible statistics. Most prominent are the numbers of people killed: combatants dying on battlefields and civilians killed or injured amid armed clashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those figures represent the direct human cost of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is another category of casualties that remains largely uncounted: people killed or harmed because the country\u2019s system of law and public security has severely deteriorated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has yet to be a comprehensive accounting of those losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even harder to measure are the psychological and social consequences of the breakdown in law and order: anxiety, fear, deep psychological trauma and the erosion of trust between people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These may ultimately prove to be among the most profound and enduring forms of damage inflicted on Myanmar society by the civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Myanmar Spring Chronicle \u2013 Scenes from August 30 (MoeMaKa), August 31, 2026 The Collapse of Rule of Law and Social Trust During Myanmar\u2019s Civil War Yesterday, I read a report about an incident at a checkpoint in Muse operated by…<\/p>\n

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