One yr in the past, on December 3, 2024, South Korea was thrust right into a political disaster after then-President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial legislation, citing rising unrest and an alleged menace to nationwide safety.
Troops had been deployed, Yoon ordered the detention of opposition lawmakers, and key state establishments, together with the Nationwide Meeting, had been positioned underneath navy command. Press freedoms had been additionally curtailed, although journalists continued reporting in defiance of the restrictions, and residents mobilised to demand an finish to the decree.
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The transfer sparked widespread demonstrations and, inside simply six hours, the parliament was surrounded by protesters and police as lawmakers voted towards the decree, forcing Yoon to withdraw it.
Inside days, the Supreme Court docket declared the transient martial legislation unconstitutional. Weeks later, the president was impeached and faraway from workplace, ending a rare second in South Korea’s democratic historical past.
Yoon later issued a public apology for the “nervousness and inconvenience” he prompted.
However elsewhere, the story usually unfolds very in another way.
A number of international locations stay underneath martial legislation or efficient navy rule, with wide-ranging implications for civil liberties, political opposition and day by day life.
So, the place does martial legislation exist at present and what does it imply for the folks residing underneath it?
What’s martial legislation?
Martial legislation is an emergency system of governance by which the navy assumes authority over some or all civilian features.
Relying on the nation, this could contain the suspension of constitutional rights, curfews and motion restrictions, navy trials for civilians, expanded arrest and detention powers, restrictions on media and meeting, and extra.
Generally, it additionally contains the non permanent substitute of civilian establishments with navy directors.
Governments normally justify martial legislation on grounds of warfare, mass unrest, armed rebel or a menace to nationwide stability. Rights teams, nevertheless, warn that it’s usually used to suppress dissent, consolidate energy, or sideline democratic processes.
Which international locations are underneath some form of navy rule at present?
Ukraine
Ukraine has been underneath nationwide, self-described martial legislation since February 24, 2022 – the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the nation. However in contrast to how martial legislation is historically understood, Ukraine is ruled by a civilian administration.
Ukraine’s scenario is nearer to what Vina Nadjibulla, vp for analysis and technique on the Asia Pacific Basis of Canada, described as a “state of emergency, the place governments activate particular powers – resembling curfews, bans on gatherings, or expanded policing – however inside a constitutional framework that retains civilian establishments, together with parliament and the judiciary, formally in cost.”
However, underneath the marshall legislation decree, the Ukrainian has granted prolonged powers to the armed forces, banned males of preventing age – sometimes these age 18 to 60 – from leaving the nation, and restricted political exercise deemed dangerous to the warfare effort.
Public gatherings additionally require approval, and media retailers should adjust to guidelines meant to guard nationwide safety. These embrace prohibiting the publishing of reviews on air defence methods, and banning footage of missile launches.
The restrictions are broadly accepted by a lot of the inhabitants, however they’ve raised questions on political accountability and transparency within the nation, particularly as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s authorities faces rising accusations of corruption.
Ukraine’s martial legislation has additionally sparked criticism for successfully eliminating political challenges to Zelenskyy, with some critics, together with US President Donald Trump, arguing that the nation wants new elections.
Petro Poroshenko, a former president and chief of the most important opposition occasion, mentioned earlier this yr that whereas martial legislation was wanted, Zelenskyy, in line with him, was utilizing the restrictions to strengthen his energy.
“I need to stress that we should always recognise the apparent – the federal government has began to abuse martial legislation, utilizing it not solely to defend the nation, however to construct an authoritarian regime,” Poroshenko mentioned throughout parliamentary debates in April.
Myanmar
Myanmar’s military seized energy in a February 2021 coup, overthrowing the elected authorities of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The navy authorities has since declared martial legislation in dozens of townships, particularly in main cities like Yangon, Mandalay and conflict-hit ethnic areas, granting commanders sweeping powers to detain, attempt to execute civilians in navy courts.
The navy’s marketing campaign towards anti-coup resistance has plunged elements of the nation into full-scale civil warfare. Web blackouts and mass arrests have been documented throughout martial-law zones.
“Army commanders have taken over native administration, civilian courts have been sidelined, and open criticism of the regime or its proposed elections can result in harsh punishment,” Nadjibulla mentioned, describing Myanmar because the “clearest instance [of marshall law] within the Asia-Pacific”.
Rights teams, together with Amnesty Worldwide, say that greater than 6,000 folks have been killed and tens of 1000’s detained because the coup. For a lot of communities, day by day life entails checkpoints, curfews and the fixed menace of raids or air strikes.
The military has bombed faculties, hospitals, and spiritual buildings with complete impunity, Amnesty mentioned, in “widespread and systematic assaults towards the civilian inhabitants nationwide”.
In late July, the navy introduced that it was lifting the state of emergency from some elements of the nation, forward of nationwide elections which might be scheduled to begin on December 28.
However some 22,689 political detainees, together with Aung San Suu Kyi, stay in detention as of December 2, in line with the Help Affiliation for Political Prisoners, an unbiased organisation that retains detailed tallies of arrests.
The United Nations has warned that the “military-controlled” elections on the finish of the yr are unlikely to result in any democratic transition, and would possibly solely “ingrain insecurity, concern and polarisation all through the nation”. Main political events are barred from contesting within the vote.
Thailand
Thailand is just not underneath nationwide martial legislation, however particular areas alongside the nation’s southern provinces, together with Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, stay underneath longstanding emergency and safety legal guidelines that grant the navy expanded powers, much like martial legislation.
These measures enable sudden searches, broad arrest powers and heavy navy presence as the federal government continues to fight a long-running armed rebel.
Thailand has not too long ago additionally declared martial legislation within the border districts of Chanthaburi, Trat, and Sa Kaeo provinces following clashes with Cambodia.
The declaration was made to safeguard “nationwide sovereignty, territorial integrity and the lives and property of Thai residents”, an announcement by Apichart Sapprasert, commander of the Border Defence Command, mentioned in July.
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso has been underneath navy rule because the twin coups that the nation witnessed in 2022, first in January, then once more in September.
Since then, whereas the federal government has not declared nationwide martial legislation, the nation’s navy leaders train full government and legislative management, with restrictions on political events, and curfews are ceaselessly imposed throughout safety operations.
The navy claims its takeover was crucial to revive stability amid escalating assaults by varied armed teams. However censorship, arrests of critics and limits on public meeting have tightened over the previous yr, in line with rights teams.
The European Union and United Nations, amongst different our bodies, have accused Burkina Faso of significant human rights violations in its combat towards armed teams, together with the indiscriminate killings and compelled disappearances of dozens of civilians, amongst them journalists and human rights defenders.
Guinea
Guinea’s navy seized energy in September 2021, suspending the structure and dissolving parliament. Though martial legislation is just not formally in place, the navy authorities guidelines by decree.
Demonstrations have been repeatedly banned, and safety forces have been accused of utilizing deadly drive towards protesters demanding a return to civilian authorities.
Opposition figures face journey bans and arrest threats, and the transition timeline has been repeatedly pushed again.
In September, voters in Guinea overwhelmingly backed a brand new structure that would enable coup chief Mamady Doumbouya to run for president if he chooses to.
Critics known as the outcomes an influence seize, however the navy authorities mentioned the referendum paves the best way for a return to civilian authorities. The presidential election is at the moment anticipated to happen later this month.
A constitution adopted after the coup barred members of the transitional authorities from looking for workplace.
The nation’s two principal opposition leaders, Cellou Dalein Diallo and deposed former President Alpha Conde, are amongst those that known as for a boycott of the referendum.
Their political events are at the moment suspended, and Human Rights Watch has accused the federal government of disappearing political opponents and arbitrarily suspending media retailers.
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau slipped underneath navy management in late November 2025, after troopers seized the election fee simply as presidential outcomes had been due. Based on the fee, poll papers, tally sheets and even the information servers had been destroyed, making it unattainable to finalise the rely.
The military then put in Main-Common Horta Inta-A as a transitional chief underneath a brand new “Excessive Army Command”, dissolving civilian authority, and imposing curfews and bans on protests and strikes.
Guinea-Bissau’s new navy authorities are going through rising stress from the Financial Neighborhood of West African States (ECOWAS) to revive constitutional rule and permit the election course of to renew.
Madagascar
Madagascar has lived underneath some type of military-backed governance since 2009, when Andry Rajoelina, then a former mayor supported by key military factions, seized energy in a coup that set the tone for years of political instability within the nation.
Though a number of elections have since been held, the navy stays a central political actor, usually intervening during times of rigidity or protest.
That sample resurfaced in October 2025, when weeks of youth-led demonstrations over corruption and financial frustration prompted the elite CAPSAT navy unit to defect and take management of the capital.
As the federal government collapsed, the military pressured out President Rajoelina and put in CAPSAT commander Michael Randrianirina as interim chief.
The navy management suspended most nationwide political establishments and the structure, forming a Council of the Presidency for the Refoundation of the Republic of Madagascar.
Randrianirina’s navy takeover has been condemned by the United Nations and by the African Union, which suspended Madagascar’s membership.
Are there international locations veering in direction of marshall legislation?
Although each are dominated by civilian administrations, the interim governments that got here to energy in Bangladesh (2024) and Nepal (2025) after their leaders had been overthrown rely closely on the navy, Nadjibulla identified.
In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024 after a mass rebellion towards her rule that intensified following a bloody crackdown on protesters. “As a result of the police and civilian safety companies had been badly discredited throughout the unrest, the military has remained extremely seen throughout the nation since mid-2024,” Nadjibulla mentioned. “The interim authorities are ruling primarily via government decrees whereas making ready elections, with the navy appearing as a key guarantor of order and of the transition itself.” Bangladesh is poised for contemporary elections in February.
In Nepal, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli needed to depart workplace in September 2025 amid youth-led protests.
An interim administration “took workplace via procedures that stretched the structure,” Nadjibulla mentioned. “Human rights teams have reported intensive use of drive by police and, in some situations, by military items. This isn’t martial legislation on paper, but it surely reveals how rapidly safety establishments can grow to be the decisive political gamers in durations of disaster.”
