A/HRC/45/5 the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. 10 Concerns therefore remain as to whether this law, if passed in its current form, will provide adequate legal protection for women. D. Fundamental rights and freedoms 34. Recommendations made by the fact-finding mission, the Special Rapporteur and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and accepted by Myanmar in the universal periodic review process in relation to protection and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms for all in Myanmar have largely not been implemented. Human rights defenders, journalists, and individuals expressing dissenting views continue to be harassed and prosecuted for exercising their rights, further eroding the space available for the exercise of democratic rights and freedoms. Activists continue to be imprisoned for peaceful protests under the Law relating to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession, of 2011. In February 2019, seven students were jailed for three months in Mandalay for failing to give notice of a demonstration calling for increased campus security. In February 2020, five students were convicted in Yangon for a protest against the Internet shutdown in western Myanmar. 35. The reporting period saw increased restrictions on freedom of expression, with the criminalization of independent journalism and reporting, particularly on issues related to the Tatmadaw’s military operations. Editors of the Voice of Myanmar, Naranjara and Khit Thit news outlets were charged with terrorism offences in early 2020 after the Arakan Army was declared a terrorist organization and following their publication of interviews with an Arakan Army spokesperson. Nay Lin, of the Voice of Myanmar, was arrested on 30 March 2020 and detained until 10 April 2020, while the editors of Naranjara and Khit Thit remain in hiding along with some of their colleagues. The Tatmadaw initiated complaints against the media for their coverage of the conflict in Rakhine – including against Aung Marm Oo, the editor at Development Media Group, in May 2019, and against the Irrawaddy newspaper in April 2019, and Reuters in March 2020. Although the Tatmadaw withdrew some of these complaints, local journalists regard the cases as threats against their ability to perform their professional duties. 36. Tatmadaw and government officials continue to file defamation cases, with up to 150 cases reported in 2018 and 2019. After traditional satirical performances in Yangon and Ayeyarwady Regions in April 2019, seven members of the Peacock Generation Thangyat troupe were charged under section 505 (a) of the Penal Code and section 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law for defaming the military in six township courts. Six of them were convicted by multiple courts and have sentences ranging from one to five years’ imprisonment, with charges in two Ayerarwady courts still pending. This case illustrates violations of the protection against double jeopardy and fundamental problems in relation to due process and fair trial rights. 37. In April, the Government ordered telecommunications companies to block access to 20 ethnic media websites, using “fake news” as justification. Since June 2019, a mobile Internet shutdown has been enforced in conflict-affected areas of Chin and Rakhine. National security grounds have been invoked to justify the ban, but the blanket measures deny people living across the region access to life-saving information, including throughout the period of the COVID-19 crisis. Mobile Internet services were restored in May 2020 only in Maungdaw. 38. The fact-finding mission made detailed recommendations to the Government regarding hate speech. On 20 April 2020, the Office of the President issued a directive to all ministries and state and regional governments to take all possible measures to denounce and prevent all forms of hate speech, and to encourage participation in and support of anti-hate speech activities. This first positive step needs to be followed by fair, non-discriminatory and equal implementation, as well as by a comprehensive legal and policy framework to 10 CEDAW/C/MMR/CO/EP/1, paras. 17–18. 9