Myanmar - September 2024

The Myanmar military killed 50 per cent more civilians between April 2023 and June 2024 than during the previous fifteen-month period, according to a report published by the United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR) on 4 September. Between April 2023 and June 2024, the report concludes the junta’s military killed at least 2,400 people, including over 500 women and 300 children. Most deaths occurred in the most recent nine months covered in the report, indicating the intensity of attacks on civilians is still increasing. An International Crisis Group report argued this rise in attacks on civilians is a consequence of the junta losing control of the country and its borders in the ongoing civil war. The OHCHR report also found that the junta’s retaliatory, intensified airstrikes and artillery attacks against the anti-military armed groups since October 2023, have caused the spike in  civilian deaths. They have also left over three million people displaced, half the population below the poverty line, and over 18 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Sources: Human Rights Council, New York Times, Al Jazeera, International Crisis Group