Arakan News Agency
A report issued by the United Nations Office of Human Rights on Tuesday stated that the Myanmar military has killed nearly 7,100 people since its coup in 2021, with roughly one-third of the victims being women and children. The report also documented ongoing “atrocities” against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, western Myanmar.
The report noted that the deaths occurred between 2021 and August 20 of this year, adding that the Myanmar military has arrested more than 29,000 people for political reasons, while 22,000 remain detained in military-controlled courts without due legal process.
The Rohingya are among the groups most affected by violations committed by the Myanmar military. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed deep concern over the continued atrocities in Rakhine State, noting their similarity to the 2017 atrocities that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
Türk said that the Myanmar military and the Arakan Buddhist militias (Arakan Army) have acted with near-total impunity, enabling the repetition of violations in an endless cycle of suffering for civilians. He added that videos and photos from Rakhine document death, destruction, and despair strikingly similar to the atrocities committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya in 2017. “It pains me greatly to see the same thing happening again,” he said.
The UN official further noted that Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine civilians in Rakhine continue to suffer from large-scale hostilities and random attacks by the Myanmar military, in addition to forced displacement, compulsory recruitment, arbitrary arrests, property destruction, denial of humanitarian aid, and other atrocities intended to terrorize the population, according to Bangladesh’s New Edge network.
The report documented escalating hostilities in Rakhine, which have displaced hundreds of thousands, estimating that about 150,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh since November 2023, joining nearly one million already living in refugee camps. Türk reiterated his call for a full referral of Myanmar’s case to the International Criminal Court, citing ongoing violations of international law and widespread impunity. He also emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian aid to reach nearly one-third of Myanmar’s population facing severe food insecurity this year.
The report, covering a 14-month period ending May 31, 2025, highlighted that nearly half of all civilian deaths across Myanmar resulted from aerial attacks and noted new alarming trends, including the use of explosives combined with chemical substances and the deployment of glider aircraft to drop munitions on civilian areas.
Over one million Rohingya have fled Rakhine State, western Myanmar, to neighboring Bangladesh following the 2017 military-led genocide by the Myanmar army and the 2023 violence by Arakan Buddhist militias (Arakan Army) aimed at controlling the state. The Rohingya live in camps in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh, which the United Nations classifies as the largest refugee camp in the world, facing harsh conditions that drive some to undertake dangerous sea journeys in search of a better life elsewhere.
