Following political changes in the country from 2011, she has continued to campaign for international action to end ongoing human rights violations, especially regarding the use of rape and sexual violence against ethnic women by the Burmese Army.

[1][2][3] Zoya Phan was born in Manerplaw, then the headquarters of the Karen National Union (KNU), on 27 October 1980, the second of her parents' three biological children.

[4] When Zoya was 14, the Burmese army attacked Manerplaw and Per He Lu, forcing her and her family to run to Mae Ra Moe, a refugee camp just across the border in Thailand.

In her third year, Zoya entered a three-month internship in the consumer department of Telecoms Asia, and was offered a position after she completed her degree.

Zoya accused the Military-run Burmese government of using child soldiers and violent repression tactics, including torture, ethnic cleansing, religious discrimination, and killing of political opponents and protesters.

In addition, she accused the Burmese government of extreme corruption, saying that the leaders of the military junta have intentionally mismanaged the economy to benefit themselves.

In 2010, she sharply denounced the international community's response to the 2010 Burmese elections, saying it was overly focused on very small changes that might occur while ignoring the fact that their impact would be minimal and would not lead to any significant increase in freedom.

[6] While Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest, she repeatedly urged the UN and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to work towards her release.

She said that the government's lack of warning people about the impending cyclone and refusal of foreign aid to assist with medical treatment and rebuilding lead to thousands of unnecessary deaths.

[10] In March 2012, she spoke at the fourth Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy and continued to maintain that the Burmese government's reforms were insufficient and that international pressure and sanctions were still necessary.

She also stated that, despite assurances from Thein Sein that reforms would take place, attacks on minority groups in Burma were only increasing in frequency, further bolstering the need for caution.

[13][14] Writing in the UK newspaper The Independent in 2015, following election in Burma which the NLD won by a landslide, she warned that the struggle for human rights in the country was still not over.

After delivering her first speeches for the Burma Campaign UK, a radio transmission was intercepted, which contained a Burmese government's hit list with her name on it.

Despite her name still being on the Burmese government's hit list, she and her family decided to attend his funeral in They Bey Hta, just inside Kayin State in Burma.

[16] Following this, Zoya and her remaining family set up the Phan Foundation, which aims to fight poverty, promote education and human rights, and protect the culture of the Karen people of Burma.