The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar has strongly condemned the escalation of violence in the country, which has resulted in heavy civilian casualties. There are alarming reports of civilians being killed in recent days in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, and Lashio town, northern Shan State, while trying to flee ongoing fighting.
“These tragic incidents are part of a deeply concerning trend in the intensifying conflict, with the distinction between civilians and combatants not being made and civilians bearing the brunt of a brutal conflict that has upended millions of lives,” said Noriko Takagi, UN Humanitarian Coordinator a.i., in a statement on Friday.
Takagi reminded all parties to the conflict that the protection of all civilians is an obligation under International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
“Those who are fleeing conflict must be granted safe passage. With widespread fighting in Myanmar displacing people across the country, the protection of all civilians must be assured,” she added
The United Nations in New York echoed the condemnation on Monday.
“These incidents are part of a deeply concerning trend in the intensifying conflict, with civilians bearing the brunt of a conflict that has upended millions of lives,“ Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said today.
According to media reports, thousands of Rohingya in Rakhine are fleeing fighting in Maungdaw township, which has come under heavy attack by the Arakan Army (AA) rebel group. The AA is an ethnic armed group fighting in alliance against the Myanmar military.
At least dozens, with eyewitness reports saying hundreds, have reportedly been killed, many while trying to flee to neighboring Bangladesh in search of safety. Thousands of Rohingyas attempting to flee last week's fighting in western Myanmar had waited for several days near the Naf River to cross.
People were reportedly bombed as they tried to find boats to cross the river to Bangladesh. Several Rohingya told the news service Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the Arakan Army was responsible for the attacks. The AA denied in a statement last week that its troops fired the weapons.
Both the Arakan Army and the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) have faced the most serious allegations of targeted violence against Rohingya people in Rakhine in recent months, including beheadings, burning of villages as people slept, drone attacks, killing of unarmed people fleeing, and evacuation orders with nowhere to go....
According to human rights activists, various armed groups, including the AA and militant groups affiliated with the MAF, have used Rohingya residents as human shields in recent fighting, and thousands of Rohingya are reportedly still in Maungdaw, trapped between the front lines and at imminent risk.
According to the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF), an escalating number of Rohingya with violence-related injuries have crossed the border into Bangladesh over the past week, indicating a worsening humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State.
MSF said Friday that its teams in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, treated dozens of people for violence-related injuries. More than 40 percent were women and children. Many had injuries from mortar shells and gunshot wounds.
“Considering the rise in the number of wounded Rohingya patients crossing from Myanmar in recent days, and the nature of the injuries our teams are treating, we are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of the conflict on Rohingya people,” Orla Murphy, MSF's country representative in Bangladesh, said in a statement.
“It is clear that safe space for civilians in Myanmar is shrinking more each day, with people caught up in the ongoing fighting and forced to make perilous journeys to Bangladesh to seek safety.”
According to MSF staff in Cox's Bazar, some refugees reported seeing people bombed as they tried to find boats to get across the river to Bangladesh to escape the violence. Others described seeing hundreds of bodies on the riverbanks.
In a separate statement on Friday, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said it was increasingly alarmed by reports of the severe impact on civilians of the ongoing escalation of conflict in northern Rakhine.
“We are receiving alarming reports that civilians, especially children and families, are being targeted or caught in the crossfire, resulting in casualties and severe injuries”, UNICEF Myanmar said.
As the violence escalates, families are being forced to make desperate attempts to flee - with reports that some have died or been killed in the process. Access to essential services and assistance for civilians remains extremely difficult, the UN agency said.
“Children, as always, are bearing the heaviest burden of this conflict. The suffering of families in northern Rakhine is a stark reminder of the urgent need for protection and support,” the statement said.
UNICEF called on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law to protect civilians, especially children, and to ensure their safety and well-being. The UN agency also called for safe and unhindered access for all humanitarian agencies to deliver humanitarian assistance.
In many different parts of Myanmar, ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and people's defense forces (PDFs) have been on the offensive against the junta since October 2023. According to the UN, this escalation is the largest and most geographically widespread since the military took power in 2021.
The ongoing intensification of conflict in the Southeast Asian nation - including the worst levels of violence since 2021 - is severely affecting people in almost every corner of the country. Armed conflict has spread to many parts of the country, particularly in Rakhine State, the northwest, Kachin and the southeast.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently reported that the humanitarian crisis “has entered a dangerous new chapter, with entrenched conflict posing grave risks to civilians, stirring a worrying resurgence of intercommunal tension and driving record levels of displacement”.
As of August, more than 3.2 million people are internally displaced, with young people, boys and girls, reportedly leaving Myanmar to avoid conflict and forced military conscription. Many of the newly displaced are living without adequate shelter and enduring severe weather during the monsoon season.
Despite interim measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2020, Rohingya in Myanmar, including women and children, continue to suffer targeted killings and indiscriminate violence, including from airstrikes, shelling, burning, landmines and unexploded ordnance.
Civilians bear the brunt of the ongoing fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces and non-state armed groups (NSAGs), with deadly aerial bombardments and heavy shelling, including in residential areas. The humanitarian situation in Rakhine State is particularly alarming as fighting intensifies and intercommunal tensions simmer.
There are disturbing reports of displaced civilians, many of them Rohingya, being used as human shields. In this context, hate speech has also been used again since 2017 to fuel ethnic tensions between the Rohingya and Arakanese communities, with the aim of exacerbating inter-ethnic polarization.
In addition, there are reports of forced recruitment of Rohingya into the armed forces and the Arakan Army.
In August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar. They joined hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya who had previously sought refuge in the country.
More than a million Rohingya are now in Bangladesh, having fled previous waves of atrocities. More than 630,000 Rohingya now live in Rakhine State. Although they have lived in Myanmar for generations, the government considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.
Myanmar faces multiple, overlapping humanitarian needs caused by genocide, persecution, protracted armed conflict, intercommunal violence, and natural disasters. Humanitarian needs in Myanmar have continued to increase due to ongoing armed violence and political unrest since the military coup in February 2021.
Hunger is on the rise throughout the country. In 2024, some 12.9 million people - nearly 25 percent of the population - are projected to be food insecure, with an increased risk of malnutrition, particularly among children and pregnant women.
The health system is in disarray and basic medicines are running out. An estimated 12 million people in Myanmar will need emergency health assistance this year alone.
People are fleeing their homes in record numbers amid widespread conflict across much of the country. Of the more than 3.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), at least 2.9 million have fled as a result of conflict and insecurity since the military takeover. An estimated one-third of the current displaced population are children.
Government-imposed access restrictions and funding constraints are severely hampering the ability of aid agencies to respond to humanitarian needs in Myanmar.
Amid the deteriorating situation, 18.6 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance - the fifth largest number in the world. 6 million of them are children.
The Myanmar 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) targets 5.3 million of the most vulnerable people this year and requires US$994 million, but the HNRP 2024 is only 21 percent funded as of August 2024.
Further Information
Full text: Statement by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. for Myanmar, United Nations country team website of Myanmar, statement, released August 9, 2024
https://myanmar.un.org/en/276134-statement-resident-and-humanitarian-coordinator-ai-myanmar
Full text: Distressing reports of civilian casualties as conflict escalates in Rakhine State, Myanmar, UNICEF in Myanmar, statement, released August 9, 2024
https://www.unicef.org/myanmar/press-releases/distressing-reports-civilian-casualties-conflict-escalates-rakhine-state-myanmar
Full text: Severe spike in arrivals of war wounded Rohingya from Myanmar, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), press release, released August 9, 2024
https://www.msf.org/severe-spike-arrivals-war-wounded-rohingya-myanmar