A report published on Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Office said the worsening crisis in Myanmar, particularly Rakhine State, provides a stark reminder of the atrocities committed by the military in 2017, pointing to increased killings, torture, razing of villages, and mass forced displacement.
Between the 2021 military coup and 20 August 2025, credible sources have verified the killing of some 7,100 people by the military, of whom about a third were women and children. At least 29,560 people have been arrested on political grounds and over 22,000 remain in detention without respect for fair trial and judicial guarantees in military-controlled courts.
Since the escalation of hostilities in Rakhine, hundreds of thousands more people have been displaced, the report says. The United Nations estimates some 150,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since November 2023, joining nearly one million already taking refuge there.
“Civilians from both Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities continue to suffer the consequences of the hostilities, with widespread and systematic patterns of indiscriminate attacks by the military against civilians and protected objects, forced displacement, forced recruitment, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, arson and property destruction, denial of humanitarian assistance, and repeated atrocities aimed at terrorizing them,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk.
“The military and the Arakan Army have acted with near complete impunity enabling the recurrence of violations in an endless cycle of suffering for the civilian population. Videos and pictures show death, destruction and desperation, distressingly similar to images that we already saw during the 2017 atrocities committed by the military against the Rohingya. It pains me deeply to see the same happening again.”
In light of the ongoing violations of international law and the prevailing impunity, the High Commissioner reiterates his previous calls for a full referral of the Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court by the Security Council.
The report, which covers the 14 months up until 31 May 2025, finds that nearly half of all civilian deaths throughout the country — 838 out of 1,811 – were reportedly the result of direct military aerial attacks. Additionally, it identifies two alarming new trends: 26 allegations of the use of chemicals, including fertilizers, attached to explosive devices, in six states and regions; and the use of armed paramotors, low-flying tactical aircraft that are used to drop munitions almost entirely on civilian locations.
The report examines in detail four incidents involving grave violations, including the targeting of civilian’s homes, villages, schools and camps for displaced people. In one of the incidents, on 12 May 2025, an airstrike struck a school killing 24 civilians, including 16 girls, six boys, and two female teachers. According to one witness all four classrooms were destroyed except the roof of the last room. Analysis of pictures and videos received by the UN Human Rights Office corroborated witness accounts.
Sources indicate that the military has regularly targeted public administration sites, including schools, with the effect of instilling fear in the public, the report says. There was already an established pattern of over 640 instances of military attacks against schools since 2021.
Despite calls by the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for de-escalation of violence, the attacks on civilians continue in violation international of human rights and humanitarian law. The report says that even after declaring a unilateral ceasefire following the earthquake in March 2025, the military reportedly launched over 550 attacks, and killed over 480 people, on top of the nearly 4,000 deaths from the earthquake itself.
While not comparable in scale, scope, intensity and brutality with violations committed by the army, the report also raises concerns about abuses perpetrated by anti-military groups. As the Arakan Army has taken control of northern Rakhine, they have carried out killings, forced recruitment, forced displacement, disappearances, arrests, burnings, extortions, looting and occupation of properties, causing hundreds of deaths and suffering, it finds.
At the same time, food insecurity continues to rise, linked to the armed conflict, economic instability, and natural disasters. In 2025, an estimated 15.2 million people, nearly a third of the country’s population, were projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity, a sharp increase from 13.3 million in 2024.
“It is past time for Myanmar’s people finally to see meaningful action taken to end this wanton violence against them and the immediate provision of humanitarian aid especially for populations that have suffered violence, hunger, displacement for years and were denied humanitarian assistance by the military,” said Türk.
“Humanitarian funding is urgently required to meet these needs, and I implore Member States to act to hold the parties to their obligations to allow help to reach those in need, and to support international efforts to hold those responsible for violations of international law to account.”
