The constitution lists many positive rights for the people. For example, included are freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to travel anywhere in the country, and the enjoyment of equal rights between peoples, with no discrimination allowed. Women too are protected to the extent that they are to have the same rights and salaries as men.
However, the constitution also takes away a variety of other rights. For example, religious leaders cannot vote. They cannot be part of a local party, and they cannot apply for a government office. Contrary to the constitution's freedoms, there is limited freedom of movement. Travellers have to register everywhere they go, and they must check in, even if they have been invited to stay overnight at a relative's or friend's house. Travellers constantly are having to go through checkpoints, and are often followed and observed by the MI wherever they go.
The basic problem appears to be that the implications of the constitution have never been clarified or even defined. Broad statements are used, statements that can be interpreted in many different ways, but all apparently designed so that the president and commander-in-chief are protected.
The reality of today is that people are being imprisoned with no opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law. People's property is being taken away from them. Their ethnic language, culture, and tradition are all being stripped away by force. The military enforces child labour, using children as porters and soldiers. There is no right to assemble. The military forbids gathering in groups of more than three to five people. So-called freedom of religion is greatly controlled by the government. In practice, there is a very real policy of fear and intimidation at all levels.
Finally, people do not have freedom to vote as they choose. They are sometimes rounded up like cattle, brought to the voting stations, and told to vote in a certain way. If they refuse to vote properly, as instructed, they are subject to fines and community unpaid labour.
A major challenge is that those local leaders desiring to form political parties are not allowed to do so. Most often there is no such thing as an opposition. They will tolerate public world figures such as Aung San Suu Kyi and a prominent party such as the NLD, but only when it works in their favour and gives world opinion of them a lift. The only leaders allowed to form political parties are those who have favourable attitudes to the government and the military. At any time, the government or military can deny the right of any area of the country to run candidates or even to vote. This happened as recently as this year in the whole of Kachin state, denying two million people their democratic right to cast a ballot.