Myanmar human rights situation 'plummets to a new low', UN report finds
The United Nations' Human Rights Office said in a report published on Tuesday that the human rights situation in Myanmar has "plummeted to a new low", citing what it called the "ever-worsening brutal abuse" of the Rohingya minority and the devastating impact of illicit economies, including illegal rare earth mining (Al Jazeera — According to the report, the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, has deployed "airstrikes, arson attacks, displacement and denial of assistance" against civilians as it battles ethnic armed groups for control of the country.
Photo: Zlatica Hoke (VOA) via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
The United Nations' Human Rights Office said in a report published on Tuesday that the human rights situation in Myanmar has "plummeted to a new low", citing what it called the "ever-worsening brutal abuse" of the Rohingya minority and the devastating impact of illicit economies, including illegal rare earth mining (Al Jazeera). According to the report, the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, has deployed "airstrikes, arson attacks, displacement and denial of assistance" against civilians as it battles ethnic armed groups for control of the country.
The UN office estimated that at least 8,075 civilians, including 1,074 children, have been killed since the coup, with at least 1,241 killed in the past year alone; it cautioned the true toll may be far higher, with open sources indicating as many as 15,731 civilian deaths since 2021 (Al Jazeera). The number of internally displaced people has risen to 3.6 million, while some 12.4 million people face acute hunger and 400,000 young children and mothers suffer acute malnutrition, according to the report.
In western Rakhine State, the UN said the military and the Arakan Army have both committed widespread and systematic violations against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority, nine years after a brutal crackdown forced roughly 700,000 Rohingya to flee into Bangladesh (Al Jazeera). According to the report, the Arakan Army has carried out arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labour and recruitment, with Rohingya who try to escape forced recruitment describing beatings, removal of fingernails, and chilli being applied to genitals while in detention.
The report also documented a booming illicit economy in the absence of rule of law, with satellite imagery confirming Kachin State as the primary rare-earth mining area, home to 302 new sites since 2021 — a 149 percent increase — strengthening transnational criminal networks (Al Jazeera). Mining run-off has caused environmental contamination linked to sharp surges in miscarriages and other pregnancy complications tied to heavy metal and chemical exposure, the report said.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the findings were deeply troubling. "This report depicts a picture of suffering, misery, and cruelty on multiple levels and across the country that is heartbreaking," Turk said, urging all states, companies and investors to undertake "serious soul-searching" over their actions or inaction regarding Myanmar (Al Jazeera).
