September 3, 2025
DHAKA – The crisis in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State, is worsening, said a new report by the UN Human Rights Office, pointing to increased killings, torture, razing of villages, and mass forced displacement.
It said between the 2021 military coup and 20 August 2025, credible sources have verified the killings of some 7,100 people by the military in Myanmar, about a third of them were women and children.
At least 29,560 people have been arrested on political grounds, and over 22,000 remain in detention without fair trial in military-controlled courts.
The report said the human rights situation of Rohingyas in Rakhine has sharply deteriorated since late 2023, as escalating hostilities between the military and the Arakan Army (AA) have left civilians trapped in a cycle of killings, forced displacement, and deprivation.
The widespread violations — including mass killings, air strikes, torture, forced recruitment, and starvation — evoke grim parallels with the atrocities of 2017.
According to sources, at least 1,633 conflict-related incidents, including 409 air strikes and 274 artillery barrages, were recorded between November 2023 and May 2025.
Verified accounts point to nearly 400 civilian casualties in Rakhine state, though the true figure is believed to be far higher, the report added.
The AA has steadily expanded control over nearly all of Rakhine, seizing the Western Military Command in December 2024 and pushing offensives into neighbouring regions. In response, the military resorted to brutal retaliation, often targeting Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine civilians.
The UN estimated some 150,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since November 2023, joining more than a million already taking refuge there.
“Civilians from both Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities continue to suffer the consequences of the hostilities,” said UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk in a statement.
“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.”
In 2017, some 750,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh amid a brutal military crackdown, which UN and other rights organisations labelled as genocide.
In light of the ongoing violations of international law and the prevailing impunity, Türk reiterated 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 to May 31, 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 fertilisers, attached to explosive devices in six states and regions; and the use of armed paramotors, which are low-flying tactical aircraft 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.
“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 said.
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, the report added.
Türk called for immediate meaningful action to end this wanton violence against the civilians and the immediate provision of humanitarian aid, especially for populations that have suffered violence, hunger, and displacement for years and were denied humanitarian assistance by the military.
He implored the UN 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.