Myanmar

2011
Myanmar's junta made way for a new civilian government on March 30, ushering in an era of civilian rule dominated by the same authoritarian generals that have isolated the country for nearly two decades; the new constitution was also enacted since 2008.

2013
Renewed sectarian violence by the Buddhist majority against Muslim families killed at least five people on October 3, forcing terrified groups to hide in forests in western Myanmar. The violence against the Muslim minority escalated by October 24 as a wider anti-Muslim atmosphere.

2014
Reports continued on January 14 that Myanmar's military was still using rape as a weapon of war, showing the need for legal reform in Burma and changes to the 2008 constitution. More than a dozen people were killed on January 17 after a Buddhist group rampaged through a town in an isolated corner of the nation and hacked Muslim women and children to death with knives. Myanmar's army freed 96 children and youth from its service on January 18 in a historic step towards ending the use of child soldiers. Thousands of people were forced from their homes as a result of sectarian violence on January 28, with many traveling to neighboring Bangladesh.

Doctors Without Borders was expelled from Myanmar on February 28 as tens of thousands were left at risk in the country; meanwhile, the President asked Parliament to consider an inter-marriage law, spearheaded by an extremist monk aimed at "protecting" Buddhists in the former junta-ruled nation.

Doctors Without Borders was allowed back into Myanmar on March 1, save for Rakhine, a state plagued by bouts of sectarian violence.

The Ninth East Asia Summit was held on November 12-13 by a panel of world leaders in a visit that criticized and called for reform of the "Rakhine Action Plan." 23 cadets of the ethnic insurgent group Kachin Independence Army (KIA) were killed on November 19 when they were hit by a single shell fired by Myanmar's army; they were the last insurgent group fighting the government after the 17-year-ceasefire broke down in 2011.

2015
On July 30, Myanmar pardoned nearly 7,000 prisoners, including 210 foreigners; among these prisoners were 155 jailed Chinese loggers.