Myanmar’s military was responsible for more than 700 civilian deaths during the six-month period surrounding last year’s elections, the United Nations said on Monday, citing verified information gathered during a period marked by intensified conflict, air strikes and widespread insecurity, according to AFP.
A report by the UN human rights office covering the period from August, when the military announced elections would be held, until the end of the voting period in January, documented what it described as a minimum of 702 civilian deaths. According to the report, women and children accounted for a significant proportion of those killed.
“Of these, 224 were women and 153 children,” the report said, adding that air strikes remained “the single largest cause of destruction and suffering”.
The UN said at least 505 civilians, including 175 women and 112 children, were killed in attacks involving jet fighters, drones, para-motors and gyrocopters. Those deaths represented 57 percent of the total number of verified civilian fatalities recorded during the reporting period.
Asked who was responsible for the deaths, UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told AFP that the 702 verified civilian deaths were attributable to Myanmar’s military. “Those 702 are attributable to the Myanmar military,” she said.
However, Shamdasani stressed that the figures did not imply that other armed groups had not also caused civilian casualties. “That doesn’t mean that there are no civilian casualties attributable to other armed groups,” she said, adding that the report relied on “credible data that we have access to. It is not a comprehensive figure”.
Myanmar has been engulfed in civil war since February 2021, when the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and ended a decade-long period of democratic reforms.
The military ruled the country directly for five years following the coup before organising tightly controlled elections that resulted in an overwhelming victory for its political allies earlier this year.
Following the polls, newly elected lawmakers selected coup leader Min Aung Hlaing as president, a move that democracy watchdog groups criticised as an attempt to repackage continued military rule under a civilian framework.
The UN human rights office, which had criticised the election process from the outset, said the period leading up to the vote was marked by serious violations and abuses.
“Serious human rights violations and abuses, amid generalised insecurity and instability, characterised the period preceding the military-controlled elections,” the report said. It added that investigators had verified incidents showing patterns of violations that significantly undermined the fundamental rights and freedoms required for credible elections.
According to the report, civilian deaths rose sharply during two distinct periods — August to September and again in December. The UN linked those increases to both the announcement of the elections and developments on the battlefield, as military forces sought to strengthen territorial control.
The rights office said the spikes coincided with “the announcement of the elections and advancements by the military on the battlefield as it attempted to secure its territorial reach”.
The report also urged stronger international action. It called on countries to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and to halt transfers of weapons, jet fuel and dual-use goods to the country where there is a risk they could contribute to violations of international law.
The UN said governments should “cease and prevent the transfer to Myanmar of arms…, as well jet fuel and dual-use items, where there is a risk that they could facilitate violations” of international law.
