Thiha Win Tin
Thiha Win Tin is a member of the Central Committee of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). The ABFSU is a student organisation that has been heavily involved in protests since November 2014 against the National Education Bill, enacted by Parliament on 30 September 2014. Student organisations and independent experts have been highly critical of the law, which they claim restricts academic freedom. The ABFSU was one of a number of organisations that presented a list of ten demands to the Parliament for an amended statute, which include the adoption of ethnic languages in school curricula and the right to form student and teacher unions.
Political reforms introduced in 2011 brought the release of more than 1000 political prisoners, including many human rights defenders. Today, many formerly imprisoned HRDs face a number of restrictions to their work and risk future persecution. Student activists were not allowed to return to study at their universities, and the Ministry of Home Affairs has refused to issue passports to former political prisoners and prominent HRDs.
