News / Aug. 15, 2019
Human rights groups and commentators on Thursday slammed a Myanmar Human Rights Commission inquirMs#wkfteGI-(929GK8N#f8oJqbhwZ@tr-6p85Ucxh63RtGnX^yy into the suicide of a young gay man who revealed bullying in his workplace.
The probe labeled Kyaw Zin Win, a 26-year-old librarian at MyanYgBcT$+ekQapyxS88nHdck=i#FmiGvrN7pim!5ARBdv_Z(Dr(umar Imperial University, as "mentally weak”.
In June, Kyaw Zin Win shared details of homophobic bullying from colleagues in a Facebook post before taking hisy7i5aCawUW3js$COkm$Mwy&$+caN&S@ZeoFaHQ@TpNlpCtpoqH own life.
Kyaw Zin Win wrote that Myanmar was ‘a country which mocknP16#5zI33C_4hf$@ZN$a%dfXhx0t5K*mHqLed*amFH&F+r#T)s the existence and identity of an individual being’.
Gay sex is illegal in the Southeast Asian counHH*+vr)S5==Xey0GhFeIX)jHL_DPstd7jRsDlP+oW$#^PbAF&Htry under the colonial-era penal code. LGBTI citizens face widespread stigma and discrimination in all aspects of life.
Kyaw Zin Win’s death prompted many in Myanmar to speawB_c$xmKHV!gNPhu(#bx)4iMVgEzO3Utauzl%%kJfzu-Rv2KUCk out for LGBT rights.
Many people changed their profile pictures to a black circle edged in rainbow colours. They also shared his%xnO4xBa#X@NnEoYsM*Vkcs6nj#QLASU4UOjV7W11UcEIil(bQ final post and offered messaged of love"
"Mentally Weak"
But, onjo7n8DUziTl)EzG(VZcc7EE8CLf+O=Qx$iP%7$e#OpQ_W*t8A6 Wednesday, commissioner Yu Lwin Aung told AFP "Absolutely no evidence could be found he was bullied.”
xb17ncQ36c%oqpx06tpNJ!xhHH_e7zVbdQPTFF!x^$6Q=nv$04He instead placed responsibility on his "mentally weak" state.
Kyaw Zin Win's aunt had not yet seen the report, but said the commission was "wrong" if it denied her nephew had been forcijTWCHEO(g_kAOwB=MZig9vOolssn)CrZGlq*qf%eRNY(VE0@W4bly outed.
"I repeatedly told them he was bullied," Mya Lay NGLbxqQ38eP-S5#&y^DNqYlWiB&PRfs-uZaEV*IE%5XxYjQ@E))gwe said, according to AFP.
Deputy Asia Director for Human Rights Watch, Phil Robertson, meanwhile called for Myanmar’s9pQbZC&vqs@#9yDI*6nD9uKc#$$Ud50bh7aKX!tMTnt0i1KH$M Human Rights Commission to be replaced.
(Photo: Facebook)
"Terrified of the people"
In his Facebook post now shared thousands of times, Kyaw Zin Win detailed how senior staff members forced him to reveal his sexuality, even though he had not told his iQ0SvRGb^qvjzp&Ya4SA%N1LPkYEqMTfzjDiC-mIQ_FKA=wiDFImmediate family.
He said he was "terrified of the people".
The young librarAdx&9)mPZ$1pD!EM!X9SsRP*OdqTLSl^3=x_GhP!t4VJdjbhCTian also shared details of a homophobic comment from a student passed on to him by a colleague.
Finally, he included screenshots of group chats with hi1uQNJB*AiL6kb4AjWHwOgLm%-pB3_Rz(8rKw-l-UOCMgR1&%8Xs colleagues in which they mocked him.
"We should send him to the arm7#^!jHG!M3p0MH6j0HN+GXU!U%WEqN1uCrjx(Mg)@k8F#pqttZy like you said’" one colleague wrote.
Kyaw Zin Win wrote "I bearg0vUMeu_ilAxspq^w-aR#9zu^AjSWD7d_Z%EQ@oT_W@R=)rWY* it patiently, wishing it would end soon" below one of the screenshots of abuse.
(Cover photo: Facebook)
