Myanmar crisis: Worsening violence against Rohingya echoes 2017 atrocities

A new report released Tuesday by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) paints a grim picture of the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State. Civilians there continue to suffer killings, torture, forced displacement, and destruction reminiscent of the 2017 atrocities committed by the military against the Rohingya. The report comes as 21.9 million people in Myanmar require humanitarian assistance, the third-highest number worldwide.

According to the report, credible sources have verified the killing of approximately 7,100 people by the military since the 2021 military coup, with about a third of the victims being women and children. Additionally, over 29,560 people have been arrested on political grounds, and over 22,000 remain in detention without fair trials or judicial guarantees in military-controlled courts.

Escalating violence in Rakhine State has displaced hundreds of thousands more people — the United Nations estimates that 150,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since November 2023, joining the approximately 1 million who have already sought refuge there.

August 25 marked the eighth anniversary of the beginning of a campaign of mass atrocities by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State in 2017, which forced more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.  Eight years later, Rohingya people — both refugees and those remaining in Myanmar — face an escalation of their already desperate circumstances.

Currently, more than 1.15 million Rohingya refugees live in the sprawling, makeshift camps of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh — the world’s largest refugee settlement. Conditions are rapidly deteriorating, as aid cuts have reduced access to food, healthcare, education, and protective services.

At the same time, conditions in Myanmar have worsened considerably. Those remaining in Rakhine State are trapped amidst ongoing conflict and continue to face grave risks and ongoing persecution.

“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.

He warned that the military and the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed group, have acted with near-complete impunity, enabling violations to recur "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,” Türk said.

In light of the ongoing violations of international law and the prevailing impunity, the UN human rights chief reiterated his previous calls for the UN Security Council to fully refer the Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The UN report, which covers the 14 months up until May 31, 2025, finds that nearly half of all civilian deaths documented throughout the country — 838 out of 1,811 — were reportedly the result of direct military aerial attacks.

Additionally, the document identifies two alarming new trends. First, there are 26 allegations of the use of chemicals, including fertilizers, attached to explosive devices in six states and regions. Second, there is the use of armed paramotors, which are low-flying tactical aircraft used to drop munitions almost entirely on civilian locations.

The report examines four incidents involving grave violations in detail, including the targeting of civilians' homes, villages, schools, and camps for displaced people. One incident occurred on May 12, 2025, when an airstrike hit a school, killing 24 civilians, including 16 girls, six boys, and two female teachers.

According to the report, sources indicate that the military has regularly targeted public administration sites, including schools, to instill fear in the public. Since 2021, there has already been an established pattern of over 640 instances of military attacks against schools.

Despite calls by the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a de-escalation of violence, attacks on civilians continue, violating international human rights and humanitarian law.

The report states that, even after declaring a unilateral ceasefire following the March 2025 earthquake, the military launched over 550 attacks and killed over 480 people, in addition to the nearly 4,000 earthquake-related deaths.

While not comparable in scale, scope, intensity, or brutality to the Myanmar army's violations, the report also raises concerns about abuses perpetrated by anti-military groups.

Since taking control of northern Rakhine, the Arakan Army has carried out killings, forced recruitment, forced displacement, disappearances, arrests, burnings, extortions, looting, and property occupation, causing hundreds of deaths and immense suffering.

Humanitarian crisis in Myanmar

Myanmar faces multiple, interconnected humanitarian needs caused by persecution, protracted armed conflict, intercommunal violence, and natural disasters. Following more than four years of civil war and the devastating earthquake of March 2025, nearly 40 percent of the country's 57 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance.

The situation deteriorated significantly after the February 2021 military coup, which sparked widespread protests and a violent military crackdown.  Since then, the situation has deteriorated further due to escalating conflict between various armed groups and the military, as well as storms, flooding, earthquakes, and a severe hunger crisis.

Food insecurity continues to surge in Myanmar, driven by the dire cirumstances. An estimated 15.2 million people, nearly a third of the population, are facing high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025, which is a sharp increase from 13.3 million in 2024.

Access and funding are major challenges in addressing the humanitarian emergency in Myanmar, widely considered one of the most neglected in the world as it receives far less international attention than other crises.

“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,” Türk said.

“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.”

The global humanitarian funding crisis is already having major negative repercussions in Myanmar. As of today, only 12 percent of the country's humanitarian needs and response plan are funded.

Further information

Full text: Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar (A/HRC/60/20),  Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - Advance edited version, released September 2, 2025
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-20-aev.pdf