The Blue Shirt Movement-Myanmar and 58 allied organizations have called on the international community to apply stronger and more effective pressure to secure the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, held extrajudicially by the junta.
After the 12-day Blue Shirt Movement, held from April 10 to 21, the groups urged the international community—including the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), United States, and Myanmar’s neighboring countries—to place greater focus on securing the release of Myanmar’s political prisoners.
The Blue Shirt Movement is a symbolic protest campaign calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners. It honors the legacy of U Win Tin, a veteran journalist and founding member of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Each year on April 21, the anniversary of U Win Tin’s death in 2014, activists and supporters around the world mark Blue Shirt Day by wearing blue to advocate for justice and human rights.
“Many political prisoners are still in detention. While the junta has announced amnesty measures, it has mostly released only those who had already completed their sentences. Therefore, we call on the international community to continue exerting pressure on the junta to secure the release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Ko Kaung Yan Lin, an organizer of the Blue Shirt Movement-Myanmar.
Political activists are particularly concerned about the junta’s information blackout regarding the health of 80-year-old Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
“The lives of all political prisoners currently in detention, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, are in grave danger. We don’t know their current conditions due to ongoing information blackouts imposed by the junta,” said Ko Kyaw Ko Ko, the general secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
“Since the sham government has not released any concrete information, we need to push for stronger action to secure the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners,” said Ma Zu Zu May Yoon, founder of the Women's Organization of Political Prisoners (WOPP).
Meanwhile, U Htein Lin, the son of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, together with members of the public, recently launched a ‘Proof of Life’ campaign demanding concrete evidence that she is alive and in good health. This movement, led by the All in One Piece Movement, is grounded in the basic human right of a son to know his mother’s health status.
Alongside Ko Htein Lin, Myanmar activists are calling on the international community, including the UN and the United States, to increase pressure on the coup regime, refuse recognition of the sham election conducted by the junta, and cut off its access to aviation fuel, which has been used in airstrikes that have killed many civilians.
Currently, the junta has imposed a complete information blackout regarding Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leaving people both inside and outside the country deeply concerned about her well-being.
According to records from the Political Prisoners Network - Myanmar (PPNM), an organization monitoring detention conditions, approximately 279 political prisoners have died in custody due to inadequate healthcare and torture since the coup.
“Like the efforts of the Myanmar people coming together from different countries, we hope the international community will also pay greater attention to this issue and provide more assistance and support until all political prisoners are released,” said Ko Thike Tun Oo, a steering committee member of the PPNM.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the junta is still incarcerating more than 14,000 political prisoners in Myanmar’s prisons, including over 600 minors.
Therefore, the Blue Shirt Movement strongly urges the international community to focus more on the junta’s atrocities and to accelerate efforts to hold it accountable for crimes against humanity.
