A new report prepared by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reveals that the human rights situation in Myanmar, particularly for minority communities, has plummeted to a new low, citing the brutal abuse of the Rohingya population and the devastating impact of illicit economies. Released on Tuesday, the report details how unrelenting violence and a conflict economy expose civilian populations to untold misery.
“The military’s persistent quest for control and legitimacy has only deepened the suffering and the multiple life-threatening protection and humanitarian concerns civilians face,” the report states.
“Military tactics aimed at imposing fear and control, facilitated by the use of new technologies to expand surveillance, permeate every aspect of life.”
The UN report highlights acts of military violence against civilians and noted the persistent use of airstrikes, arson attacks, displacement, and denial of humanitarian assistance.
Nine years after the horrific violence of 2017
The report also details widespread and systematic violations and abuses committed by both the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the non-state armed group Arakan Army against the Rohingya, nine years after the horrific violence of 2017 that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee.
In 2017, Myanmar’s security forces launched a large-scale military campaign in Rakhine State. Beginning in August of that year, they burned hundreds of villages and killed reortedly over 10,000 Rohingya men, women, and children throughout northern Rakhine. This campaign has been widely described as ethnic cleansing.
At least 740,000 Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh in 2017, joining the hundreds of thousands who had already fled the country. Additionally, since mid-2024, over 150,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh due to escalating violence in Rakhine State resulting from the civil war that followed the 2021 military coup.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres called for renewed global attention to the plight of the Rohingya people, noting that the Rohingya in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and across the region face deepening insecurity, shrinking protection, and diminishing prospects for durable solutions, exacerbated by funding cuts that impact life-saving assistance.
Minorities in Rakhine continue to suffer from serious human rights abuses
Meanwhile, continuing waves of displacement spanning from historic mass atrocities to the ongoing civil war fuel a broader national emergency in Myanmar that reaches nearly every corner of the country, particularly Rakhine State.
“Across northern Rakhine, the Arakan Army has perpetrated arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, instances of enforced disappearance, forced labor and recruitment, unlawful confiscation of land and residential property, and the destruction of villages, religious and cultural sites, caused renewed Rohingya displacement,” the UN report said.
“Children are systematically used for labor, with witnesses describing workers as young as six years old clearing jungle, constructing buildings and doing menial work for Rakhine families. In one case, a child was forced to clear bones and skulls of victims of a massacre.”
Interviewees reported the arrest and detention of Rohingya attempting to escape forced recruitment. Some Rohingya girls resorted to early marriage in the hope that married girls were less likely to be forcibly recruited.
The same military that killed thousands of Rohingya in 2017 has since forcibly conscripted around 125,000 people, many of whom are Rohingya, and subjected some to forced alcohol consumption, denial of rest, and torture.
“Once detained, individuals reported being routinely subjected to ill-treatment with former detainees describing beatings with bamboo, rubber pipes, and belts; being burned with matches and cigarettes; being hung upside down with their bodies spun until they passed out; chili being applied to genitals; and removal of fingernails,” the report said.
Beyond the direct toll on minority communities, the total absence of the rule of law across Myanmar has fueled a parallel crisis: booming illicit economies.
The devastating impact of illicit economies
According to the report, the absence of the rule of law across Myanmar has enabled illicit economies in the country. These economies help finance conflict and worsen crises, which have an impact on the wider region. Human rights crises continue to multiply due to illegal mining, drug production, human trafficking, and scam centers.
The report also found that economic collapse and conflict-induced displacement have generated a labor market that is easily exploited by economic actors and criminal organizations. Civilians are lured into a system marred by endless human rights violations and abuses.
The unregulated exploitation of natural resources has destroyed the environment, livelihoods, and traditional community-based systems in a growing number of areas, particularly in minority regions.
The report found that illicit economies and rare earth mining in Kachin and Shan have strengthened transnational criminal networks and irresponsible business practices, resulting in serious instances of transboundary environmental contamination.
Massive volumes of hazardous chemical leaching agents and toxic mining runoff flow directly into local waterways, resulting in severe chemical and transboundary pollution. This ecological devastation harms not only the landscape, but also directly threatens human health.
“Environmental contamination impacted maternal and reproductive health, with local documentation efforts confirming sharp surges in miscarriages, severe bleeding during pregnancy, childbirth, or after delivery, and pregnancy complications attributed to heavy metal and chemical exposure,” the report said.
A lack of economic opportunities, displacement, and forced conscription have also triggered an influx of women into the mining sector.
“This aggravated risks of sexual violence and harassment by supervisors, guards, and militia members who operated with absolute impunity,” it said.
The report also highlighted the absence of occupational health and safety standards.
“This report depicts a picture of suffering, misery, and cruelty on multiple levels and across the country that is heartbreaking,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in a statement.
“I call on all states, companies and investors to undertake serious soul-searching with respect to their actions – or inaction; to ask: is this fair and just for the people of Myanmar? Can the societal and environmental harm of their activities even be reversed? Their own reputations and their credibility are on the line.”
As leaders and corporations face questions about their complicity, the human cost of the international neglect is staggering.
Myanmar’s humanitarian emergency
Although often ignored by political leaders and the global public, Myanmar remains one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. This year alone, over 16 million people, including around 5 million children, require humanitarian assistance and protection.
The crisis is marked by ongoing armed conflict, forced displacement, widespread human rights violations, severe economic deterioration, and natural disasters. Since the military takeover five years ago, the need for assistance in Myanmar has risen dramatically, a situation exacerbated by the devastating earthquake that struck the country last year.
Some 5.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes. An estimated 3.8 million are internally displaced, and around 1.5 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries. For Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh, returning to Myanmar safely remains impossible while conflict and persecution continue.
The armed conflict affects most of the country and is considered one of the deadliest in the world. Intense fighting and displacement continue to affect the northwestern and southeastern regions, including Magway, Sagaing, Chin, Bago, and Kayin. Meanwhile, the states of Rakhine, Shan, and Kayah face an ongoing risk of aerial attacks and armed clashes.
According to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), which was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, the Myanmar military has carried out a sustained campaign of deliberate attacks on civilians. These attacks include airstrikes on homes, schools, and camps for displaced people, as well as arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual violence.
In a report released earlier this month, the Mechanism’s investigations revealed that the frequency and severity of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military and various non-state armed groups, including the Arakan Army, have escalated over the past year.
Further information
Full text: Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/63/21, published August 25, 2026
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session63/advance-versions/a-hrc-63-21-auv-1-en.docx