The United Nations high commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has expressed grave concern over worsening atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, warning that the situation bears ‘distressingly similar’ resemblance to the 2017 military campaign that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas into Bangladesh.
A report released in Geneva on Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Office documented the killing of some 7,100 people by Myanmar’s military since the 2021 coup, a third of them women and children.
At least 29,560 people were arrested on political grounds, with over 22,000 still held in military-controlled courts without due process.
The report said the escalation of hostilities in Rakhine has displaced hundreds of thousands, while about 150,000 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh since November 2023, adding to nearly one million already living in camps.
‘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 terrorising them,’ said 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,’ he added.
The UN rights chief reiterated his call for a full referral of Myanmar’s situation to the International Criminal Court, citing continued violations of international law and prevailing impunity.
Covering the 14 months up to May 31, 2025, the report highlighted that nearly half of civilian deaths across Myanmar resulted from aerial attacks. It also flagged new trends, including the use of explosives with chemicals and paramotors to drop munitions on civilian areas.
Türk urged immediate humanitarian access, noting that nearly one-third of Myanmar’s population faces acute food insecurity this year.
‘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,’ he 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,’ Türk stressed.
Bangladesh, hosting the world’s largest forcibly displaced Rohingya population, continues to call for greater international pressure on Myanmar to ensure safe and sustainable repatriation, observers said.
