Since the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, the military has tried to force us into subordination with killings, torture, bombing, countless arrests, and displacement. Since then, over three million people have been internally displaced. At least 8,000 civilians, including many trade unionists, have died. Seventy percent of the total nation has faced armed clashes.

More than 86,000 buildings, including schools and health care facilities, have been attacked and destroyed. Around 400,000 government employees who joined the civil disobedience movement have lost their jobs and income. At least 26,799 people have been arrested, among them over 500 trade unionists.

For more than three years, the military has waged an open war against the people of Myanmar, and the world has started to notice. Yet the oppression by successive military regimes has been ongoing for decades, a fact that is seen in the many who had to seek refuge in Norway over the years. We thank the Norwegian people, the Government of Norway, the Norwegian Burma Council, and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, for the many years of political and financial support and for allowing the Democratic Voice of Burma to be established in Olso.