NO PLACE FOR CHILDREN

Sai Wai Yan was playing cards on a sidewalk. Aye Myat Thu was eating a coconut in her garden. Thwalahar was on the frontline of a protest. By sunset on 27 March 2021 all three children would be shot dead.

That morning in Naypyidaw, the purpose-built capital, a military parade celebrated Armed Forces Day, an annual commemoration of resistance against Japanese occupation. Thousands of soldiers marched with rifles, swords and flags. Watching the pageantry were eight foreign representatives – from nations including Russia, China and India – less than two months after Myanmar’s elected government had been deposed.

In a speech to the