[Commentary]26/06/19 On Suu Kyi’s 81st birthday, Myanmar must prove she is alive

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Six years into detention, Aung San Suu Kyi’s whereabouts and condition remain unknown as junta intensifies its repression

Published: June 19, 2026 02:38 AM GMT ▾

Kim Aris, son of Aung San Suu Kyi, speaks to supporters before taking part in a run on his mother's 80th birthday, to raise awareness of her ongoing incarceration, in Hyde Park in London on June 19, 2025. Myanmar's deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 81st birthday in junta detention on June 19, 2026, serving a raft of sentences set to last the rest of her life. (Photo: AFP)

Today is Aung San Suu Kyi’s 81st birthday, and for the sixth year in a row she marks it in detention. A month ago, she was moved from prison to house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw, but her well-being and whereabouts are still unknown. Indeed, her son Kim Aris is not even certain that she is still alive, and has launched a campaign urging the ruling military regime in Myanmar to provide “proof of life.”

Ms Suu Kyi should be either beginning a third term in government or handing over the reins to a new leadership in a democratic transition, and moving towards retirement.

Instead, she is serving an 18-year sentence, reduced in April from the original 33-year sentence she received in a sham trial following the military coup that overthrew her democratically-elected civilian government on Feb. 1, 2021. Unless she is released soon, she is very likely to die in detention.

Earlier this week, the last remaining vestiges of Ms Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, were removed as its headquarters — which I visited many times in the past — was dismantled. Police have warned that anyone commemorating her birthday will be arrested.

At the start of this month, Kim Aris launched an “81 for 81” appeal, urging people to run 81 kilometers, cycle 81 miles, or walk 81,000 steps to mark his mother’s 81st birthday. He has personally pledged to skateboard 81 kilometers within a single day.

Ms Suu Kyi, of course, is not by any means Myanmar’s only political prisoner. Indeed, since the coup more than 30,000 people have been arrested, and until recently over 22,000 political prisoners were jailed. Even with some releases since the country’s sham elections, at least 14,000 political prisoners remain behind bars. These include not only pro-democracy activists, but journalists, lawyers, civil society leaders and human rights defenders.

The military regime continues to bomb civilians on a daily basis, with — as Fortify Rights and others have documented — airstrikes using fighter jets, drones, paramotors and gyrocopters. Hundreds of churches, temples, pagodas, and mosques have been destroyed, hospitals and clinics bombed, and homes targeted. In one recent example, documented by Fortify Rights on March 5, 2026, Myanmar military forces conducted an airstrike on a Buddhist monastery sheltering civilians in Bago Region, opened fire on civilians from the ground, and arbitrarily detained survivors.

Almost four million people have been displaced, and according to the United Nations, nearly 20 million people — around a third of the population — are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

The education sector has been almost destroyed. According to a recent briefing from Prospect Burma and Mosaik, from 2023 to 2024, there were at least 217 attacks on schools and 141 incidents of military use of school premises. Between 2021 and 2025, reportedly more than 125,000 teachers lost their positions — at least 37 were killed and 500 were arrested. Between 300,000 and 500,000 young people have left Myanmar, while a further 100,000 young people have been forcibly conscripted into Myanmar’s army.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s dictator General Min Aung Hlaing has embarked on a global campaign to legitimize his regime, traveling to India and China to seek support from these two neighboring powers. Following the sham elections in which more than 40 political parties were banned, and most of the population was disenfranchised, Min Aung Hlaing has been declared “president” by a sham parliament stacked with pro-military representatives.

Increasing cooperation between Myanmar’s regime and other dictatorships, particularly China and Russia, ought to cause concern for democracies around the world.

It is vital that the international community steps up its efforts to end Myanmar’s suffering. The United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Australia, and the members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, as well as India and Japan, where Ms Suu Kyi spent part of her earlier life, must today demand her immediate and unconditional release, and call for all political prisoners to be freed.

Pressure must be intensified on the military dictatorship to cease its airstrikes against civilians. Governments should impose additional targeted sanctions, enforce a global arms embargo, and halt the transfer of aviation fuel, dual-use technologies, and other materials that enable the military to carry out attacks on civilian populations. Furthermore, efforts to hold the perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes accountable should be accelerated.

Humanitarian aid — delivered through Myanmar’s civil society in ways that can reach those in need without being appropriated by the regime — must be increased.

And people of all religions and beliefs should join a call by one of Myanmar’s leading pro-democracy campaigners, the founder of the Institute for Peace and Federal Democracy Dr Sasa, to mark Ms Suu Kyi’s birthday with prayer and fasting.

Ms Suu Kyi’s record in government was a disappointment for many, particularly the Rohingya. Her image as a pro-democracy icon was severely tarnished by her decision when in office to travel to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to defend Myanmar’s military against charges of genocide against the Rohingya from Rakhine State. But one can passionately disagree with decisions she took when in government, and at the same time recognise that her imprisonment is an outrageous injustice. On her 81st birthday, Myanmar’s regime should provide the proof of life that her son demands — and if she is still alive, she should be released without delay.

*Benedict Rogers is Senior Director of Fortify Rights, and author of three books on Myanmar, including “Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads”. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.