Zoya Phan is a Burmese human rights activist and author. After fleeing Than Shwe’s military dictatorship and claiming asylum as a refugee in the U.K., Phan has worked to expose the junta’s repression. She is currently the campaign manager for the Burma Campaign UK (BCUK). She also created and is the director of the Phan Foundation to promote the education, human rights, and the culture of the Karen ethnic minority in Burma. In 2009, Phan published “Undaunted: My Struggle for Freedom and Survival in Burma.” In 2010, she was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2017, she was denied a visa to return to Burma to attend an unveiling of a statue of her late father, Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, on the ninth anniversary of his death. Through her work at the Phan Foundation, BCUK, social media, and public appearances, she remains an important advocate for human rights and civil society issues in Burma.
