Myanmar: A Deepening Crisis of Conflict, Rights Violations and Civilian Harm

On 13 March 2026, the crisis in Myanmar was once again raised before the United Nations Human Rights Council, where the United Kingdom warned that the situation in the country remained severe and was continuing to worsen. Speaking during the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, the U.K.’s Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders, said civilians were still being subjected to “ indiscriminate air strikes, mass displacement, arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence “ .

The statement also drew attention to the military’s obstruction of humanitarian relief, warning that the denial of aid access is putting millions of people at greater risk by deepening food insecurity and preventing access to life-saving medical care. The United Kingdom called for rapid, full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, and stated that the military-run elections were neither free nor fair. It further urged all parties, and especially the Myanmar military, to “ stop hostilities, protect civilians and release those arbitrarily detained, including children “. The statement also underlined the importance of accountability for atrocity crimes, including those committed against the Rohingya, and highlighted the role of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar in preserving evidence for future justice efforts.

This intervention matters because it reflects a broader reality: more than five years after the coup, Myanmar remains in the grip of a complex and worsening crisis shaped by armed conflict, systematic abuses and growing humanitarian need.

A Crisis That Deepened After the Coup

Myanmar’s current turmoil began with the military coup of February 2021, but the immediate political rupture can be traced to the November 2020 elections. In that vote, Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party secured a decisive victory. The result was challenged by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which alleged widespread electoral fraud after performing poorly at the polls.

Those allegations were not substantiated, and Myanmar’s Electoral Commission rejected demands for the election to be rerun. Despite this, the military seized power on 1 February 2021, arrested civilian leaders and overturned the result of the election.

The coup triggered large-scale protests across the country. Demonstrators calling for democratic rule were met with violent repression, including arrests, lethal force and widespread intimidation. As the crackdown intensified, the crisis evolved from a political confrontation into an armed conflict involving both newly formed resistance groups and long-established ethnic armed organisations.

The coup also reactivated older fault lines that had shaped Myanmar for decades. Long-running tensions linked to ethnicity, regional autonomy and state violence became more deeply entangled with the nationwide struggle against military rule. As a result, Myanmar’s crisis cannot be understood simply as the aftermath of a coup. It has become a broader and more fragmented emergency affecting multiple regions and communities in different ways.

The human cost has been immense. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, Myanmar was the most violent conflict among the 50 wars it monitored globally in 2023, with an estimated 50,000 deaths, including at least 8,000 civilians.

Violence Across the Country Continues to Cost Civilian Lives

The consequences of the conflict are not limited to one region. Although some areas have received more international attention than others, civilians across Myanmar continue to face air strikes, raids, displacement and detention.

This was underlined again in March 2026, when renewed attacks in the Bago Region showed how dangerous the conflict remains for communities far from Myanmar’s western borderlands. According to the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN), at least 41 civilians were killed in south-central Myanmar after several days of military bombardment between 7 and 10 March. Those killed included 18 children and a pregnant woman.

KPSN reported that Chinese-made fighter jets were used to bomb villages in the eastern part of Bago Region, particularly in Nyaunglebin district. Local reports also described troops entering villages, arresting residents and carrying out operations on the ground while air attacks were taking place. The National Unity Government (NUG) said the military used heavy weapons and “kamikaze drones” during the assaults. It also stated that more than 300 civilians had been detained, while KPSN reported 160 arrests. According to the NUG, those detained were later released.

According to KPSN, Nyaunglebin accounted for the highest number of casualties, although attacks were also recorded in several other districts. In Mergui-Tavoy District, for instance, the military reportedly carried out an airstrike using a Chinese-made K8W aircraft, which dropped four 250-pound bombs on a village and killed four villagers, one of them a child.

These attacks form part of a wider pattern. The military has repeatedly relied on air power against civilian-populated areas since the coup, contributing to some of the deadliest incidents of the conflict. Among them was the Pa Zy Gyi massacre in 2023, in which more than 165 people, including children, were killed. Another massacre in Bago in 2021 left more than 80 civilians dead.

In March 2026, concerns increased further when Myanmar’s military formally commissioned additional combat aircraft, including Russian-made Su-30 fighter jets, in an apparent effort to strengthen its aerial capacity. This reportedly marked the sixth reinforcement of this kind since the 2021 coup, with Russia and China remaining the military government’s principal arms suppliers. The expansion of the air fleet is significant because air strikes have become one of the military’s most destructive tools in areas controlled by resistance forces and ethnic armed groups, often with severe consequences for civilians. The same reporting noted that the military had recently retaken Tagaung in northern Mandalay Region, highlighting that the conflict remains active across multiple parts of the country.

Local groups have described recent attacks as possible war crimes and have renewed calls for stronger international measures, including restrictions on the supply of jet fuel and sanctions targeting the financial channels used by the military to acquire weapons and military equipment. Naw Wahku Shee, director of KPSN, stated that “No country is making any new effort at all to try to reduce jet fuel and arms reaching the Burmese military, and the result is more dead children in Burma” These appeals reflect growing concern that, despite extensive documentation of abuses, civilians in Myanmar remain dangerously exposed.

Despite the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, Children of the Mekong continues to support vulnerable children and their education. You can help give a child stability, hope and the chance to build a future beyond the conflict.