World Court to hear Myanmar genocide case in January

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hear a landmark case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its minority Muslim group, the Rohingya, on January 12-29, the United Nations’ top court said on Friday.

The proceedings are expected to set precedents that could affect South Africa’s case against Israel over the war in Gaza, as this will be the first genocide case the ICJ has heard on its merits in more than a decade.

In the first week of the hearings, Gambia — a predominantly Muslim West African country — will outline its case from January 12 to 15. Backed by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Gambia filed the case at the ICJ in 2019, accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya.

Myanmar, which has denied genocide, can present its side from January 16 to January 20.

In an unusual move, the ICJ — also known as the World Court — has also allocated three days for hearing witnesses. These hearings will be closed to the public and media.

UN mission concluded Myanmar 2017 campaign included ‘genocidal acts‘

A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded that a 2017 military campaign by Myanmar that drove 730,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh had included “genocidal acts”.

Myanmar rejected the U.N. findings as “biased and flawed”. It says its crackdown was aimed at Rohingya rebels who had carried out attacks.

The case is being brought under the 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, which defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Both Myanmar and Gambia have signed the Genocide Convention, which gives the top U.N. court jurisdiction in the case.

Acts of genocide named in the convention include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the group in whole or in part.

Since the 1948 Genocide Convention, the ICJ has only confirmed one episode of genocide, the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb troops during the 1990s war that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.

The findings of the ICJ in this case could become important in any future genocide case, specifically as Gambia and a number of intervening states in the case including Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have argued that genocide is not limited to only mass killings.

The intervening countries said in written filings that the court should not only focus on the number of dead to establish genocidal intent, but also look at forced displacement, crimes against children and sexual and gender-based crimes.

REUTERS

DVB

Mrauk-U hospital bombing deepens healthcare crisis in Rakhine State

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After the Myanmar Air Force carried out airstrikes on the People’s Hospital in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, other hospitals are no longer able to operate openly for fear of being targeted, forcing them to relocate or operate as mobile units, making it increasingly difficult for Mrauk-U residents to access healthcare.

The inability to operate hospitals in proper locations, combined with a land and sea blockade by the military since the Arakan Army (AA) launched its offensive in November 2023, has compounded the crisis with hospitals unable to receive a sufficient amount of medicines. This poses serious challenges for residents in need of emergency treatment.

“After the bombing of Mrauk-U Hospital, getting healthcare has become really tough. This hospital was a major medical center that the people of Arakan depended on. Because Mrauk-U is easy to reach, many patients relied on it. But after the airstrike, accessing care has become much more difficult for everyone,” a Rathedaung Township resident told Development Media Group (DMG) on the condition of anonymity.

The AA has called on international and humanitarian organizations to donate as much medicine and medical equipment as possible to help patients following the regime airstrikes on Mrauk-U Hospital on Dec. 10. Mrauk-U was seized by the AA on Feb. 8, 2024.

The AA’s political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), stated that the regime airstrikes on Mrauk-U Hospital completely halted all healthcare services, causing severe hardship and even deaths due to lack of emergency medical care.

“Getting treatment elsewhere is really hard because transportation is difficult and expensive. Living and food costs are also high. Some patients just can’t afford to get the medical care they need,” the Rathedaung resident told DMG.

Other hospitals in Arakan State are no longer able to operate in fixed locations, and some have closed entirely over security concerns. At least 33 people were killed and around 80 were injured in the airstrikes.

The U.N. stated that it was deeply alarmed by the attack on the Mrauk-U Hospital. It called on all parties to “observe obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law,” while highlighting the fact that Arakan is in need of a large humanitarian response. 

The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) accused the regime of committing a war crime by attacking a hospital. Under international law, the targeting of civilian infrastructure like hospitals is considered a crime.

“The hospital bombing is really devastating and has made life very hard for the people of Arakan. Health is so important, but now there’s no hospital to rely on. Health issues can happen anytime, some people might have minor illnesses, and others could be emergency cases. But now, even if people are sick, they don’t dare go to clinics or hospitals because they’re afraid of airstrikes,” a Mrauk-U resident told DMG.

Residents across Arakan, living in the 14 townships under AA control, are constantly in fear of regime airstrikes as Naypyidaw has its sights set on getting the third and final member of the Brotherhood Alliance to the negotiating table in China to broker a ceasefire, as it has already done with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in October and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in January.

The AA and residents claimed that the regime is deliberately targeting civilians at public gathering places, hospitals, clinics, schools, and markets. 

It added that 192 civilians have been killed, 502 others have been injured, and 596 homes have been destroyed by 92 regime airstrikes on Sittwe, Pauktaw, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Ann, Taungup, Ramree, Kyaukphyu, Gwa townships in Arakan, as well as Paletwa Township in southern Chinland, which was seized by the AA in 2024, over the last year. 

At least 1,724 civilians have been killed and 3861 others have been injured in 1,852 aerial attacks carried out by the regime’s Air Force since the earthquake on March 28, according to DVB data.

BNI

DVB

Sham Election Tracker (SET): Monitoring the illegal Myanmar junta’s sham election and related human rights violations

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PRESS RELEASE

12 December 2025

On 10 December 2025 on International Human Rights Day, Sham Election Tracker Working Group (SET WG) held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondent Club of Thailand in Bangkok to launch the Sham Election Tracker (SET).

The illegal military junta in Myanmar is aggressively pushing to hold its sham election scheduled for December 2025 and January 2026 amid its ongoing campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar, including mass killings, mass displacement, aerial bombing, forced conscription, and severe restrictions on civic and political space.

SET is dedicated to document and expose the junta’s so-called election related events and human rights violations connected to this fraudulent electoral process. It will collect, verify and upload reports on related incidents and violations to inform the international community and stakeholders including international governments, legislatures, civil society and media and offer critical insights and analysis on the junta’s attempts to legitimize and reinstate the military dictatorship in Myanmar.

Inspired by Burma Election Tracker that was developed by Burma Partnership – the Asia Pacific regional advocacy and campaign network for a free and democratic Burma – to track the previous military regime’s farce election in 2010, SET will also present a real-time reporting on the data visualisation and updates on campaigns and advocacy activities as a transparent and accessible tool. The platform, in collaboration with 34 Myanmar civil society organisations,

also features a database, interactive mapping, and a secure system for submitting reports.

The launch of the SET was also joined by representatives from Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) and Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) as they shared the findings of their recently published reports on the military junta’s sham election.

Yanghee Lee of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) explained that the junta’s sham election is central to its long-term plan, set in motion with the attempted coup, to secure absolute military dominance over the state. She also emphasised that “the only legitimate path towards peace in Myanmar is through the realisation of the common revolutionary vision for federal democracy.”

We call on the international community and governments, the UN, the ASEAN, and the European Union to:

1. Publicly denounce the junta’s illegal sham election and its result;

2. Refrain from providing any technical, logistical, or financial assistance and abstain from sending observers; and

3. Support the Myanmar people’s will and aspirations to establish federal democracy.

For more information, please contact:

The Sham Election Tracker Working Group, Signal: +60 10 521 7959, juntaelectiontracker@gmail.com

Sham Election Tracker Website : https://shamelectiontracker.com/

PDF Link: https://drive.google.com/…/1-9Iks-ojKefSc5EAq…/view…

No One Feels Safe

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“No one Feels Safe”

Airstrikes Perpetrated in Burma from July to October 2025

This briefing paper by the Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) examines the impact of airstrikes on innocent civilians from July to October 2025 in areas documented by ND-Burma members and through desk research. Since the attempted coup in 2021, the military junta has escalated its targeting of civilians through a violent and coordinated campaign of airstrikes. The increase in air attacks coincides with the Burmese Army’s growing loss of ground and territory to the armed opposition. 

The military carries out airstrikes during hours when civilians are not expecting an attack, late at night and early morning, giving little warning or time to escape. The regime has fired upon communities far from the battlezones, including the assault on displaced people in shelters, displacement camps, homes, villages, schools, places of worship, and clinics. Survivors report feelings of anxiety, trauma, and suffering caused by the unpredictable and indiscriminate nature of these attacks.

Additionally, the junta has destroyed entire livelihoods, with villages being devastated from above. Grounded military forces frequently loot remaining goods and essentials. The suffering and hardship faced by civilians have worsened due to the international community’s lack of coordinated and urgent action. Despite overwhelming evidence of the junta’s war crimes, the military remains shielded and has not faced any accountability for its ongoing crimes. For decades, they have committed violence against ethnic minority groups, mainly living in Burma’s border regions. Over the last four and a half years, the circumstances on the ground have worsened, turning daily life for rural villagers into a struggle to survive. 

The human rights situation in Burma is rapidly deteriorating. Since the attempted coup on 1 February 2021 until August 2025, the UN Human Rights Office announced that more than 7,000 people have been killed by the junta, of which a third are women and children.1  Nearly 30,000 have been arrested as due process continues to be routinely denied in the military-run courts. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a member of ND-Burma, reported that from the coup until September 30, 2025, there were 3,023 civilian deaths confirmed due to airstrikes and heavy weaponry attacks.2 AAPP noted that an additional 2,690 deaths were still awaiting confirmation. The victims included 1,370 women and 1,653 men, as well as 647 children under the age of 18

No One Feels SafeDownload

New Briefing Paper,‘No One Feels Safe,’

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The Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma Releases New Briefing Paper,
‘No One Feels Safe,’ on Human Rights Day

10 December 2025

On International Human Rights Day, the Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) releases a new briefing paper, ‘No One Feels Safe,’ which details cases of airstrikes documented by members in Burma from July to October 2025. Aerial strikes continue to be a leading cause of death and injury for civilians who are routinely caught in the violent crossfire of the junta’s worsening attacks.

According to member data, our findings indicate that 272 airstrikes occurred in four States, including Chin State, Kachin State, Mon State, Shan State, and three regions, Mandalay, Magway and Tanintharyi, resulting in the deaths of 75 women, 72 men and 60 children, in addition to 31 of unknown identity killed. There were 88 wounded women, 158 wounded men and 80 injured children, as well as 117 of unknown identity. At least dozens of properties were damaged, including 554 houses, 13 schools, one hospital, four clinics, two churches, 35 monasteries, two private schools, and one nursery school.

Their ongoing documentation efforts are vital to gathering further evidence needed to hold the military junta accountable for their crimes.

“The junta is using airstrikes to spread fear among local people who are tired of the constant hardships in daily life in Burma. Those living in rural, conflict-affected areas face ongoing risks to their survival due to these airstrikes. Countries supplying weapons, including aviation fuel, are complicit in these attacks on innocent lives. Airstrikes are not only destroying homes and lives, but they are breaking the sense of safety that people are desperately trying to hold onto in their daily struggle to survive,” said Nai Aue Mon, Program Director at the Human Rights Foundation of Monland.

Reports from the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) and the UN Special Rapporteur reveal that Russia, China, Singapore, Thailand, and India are the leading suppliers of weapons, dual-use technology, and manufacturing materials to the military junta, totalling over $1 billion since February 2021. Bombs are falling on innocent civilians, causing widespread horror and trauma. Survivors face ongoing suffering, losing their sense of humanity and mourning the deaths of friends, family, and community. Among those killed and wounded in airstrikes are overwhelmingly women and children, as they comprise the majority of those displaced throughout the country.

Human Rights Day is a stark reminder of how much work remains to establish the foundations of a free and just society in Burma. The coup attempt on 1 February 2021 continues to cast a shadow over a nation eager for change and democratic reform. Yet, it also highlights the extraordinary adversity and resilience demonstrated by the people who refuse to remain silent in the face of injustice and who remain dedicated to a future free from military rule.

Media Contact

Name: Nai Aue Mon

Signal: +66 86 1679 741

Name: San Htoi

Signal: +66 649369070

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) comprises 13 organizations representing diverse ethnic nationalities, women, and former political prisoners. Since 2004, ND-Burma member organizations have documented human rights abuses and advocated for justice on behalf of victims. The network has ten full members and three affiliate members.

Press Release – Under Attack: Women’s Peace and Security in Burma 

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The Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma Releases
Under Attack: Women’s Peace and Security in Burma

on the 16-Day Campaign to End Gender Based Violence

25 November 2025

For Immediate Release 

Today, the Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) publishes its latest briefing paper, Under Attack: Women’s Peace and Security in Burma. Despite substantial challenges, women continue to resist patriarchal systems that seek to silence their calls for equality and justice for abuses committed against them. Each year, the global initiative 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence underscores the ongoing effort towards a gender-equal future. In Burma, the drive for gender-informed policies arises from decades of oppression that require urgent reform and change. Our latest analysis reveals that women face significant risks in the years since the failed coup, and urgent attention is needed to end military impunity.

This briefing paper highlights the worsening crisis in women’s peace and security during the 16 Days Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence. Based on desk research and member data, our findings emphasize the urgent need for support for victims and survivors of various forms of violence. 

Patriarchal norms in Burma have historically challenged women’s rights. Additionally, the severe humanitarian crisis following the 2021 military coup, along with ongoing gender-based violence—including arbitrary arrests, movement restrictions, limited resource access, and other violations—continues to undermine women’s safety. Current obstacles, such as the ongoing conflict, forced conscription, and the upcoming sham election, further threaten women. The militarization of Burma’s various States and Regions has created such hardship that no area is safe from the risk of indiscriminate attacks. 

Civil society organizations have long played a key role in documenting human rights abuses and truth-telling efforts. Justice remains delayed for victims and survivors of the military junta’s brutal attacks on civilians. These attacks have persisted for decades, and following the failed coup, demands for accountability must translate into tangible actions to break the cycle of impunity. 

Furthermore, our members demand an immediate end to all forms of violence against women and call for increased visibility and attention to the 16 Days Campaign. The international community must take coordinated action and heed the decades-long calls of women’s groups to ensure the protection and promotion of rights for all. 

For more information:

Name: Nai Aue Mon

Signal: +66 86 1679 741

Name: San Htoi 

Signal: +66 649369070

_____________________________________________________________________________

The Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) comprises 13 organizations representing diverse ethnic nationalities, women, and former political prisoners. Since 2004, ND-Burma member organizations have documented human rights abuses and advocated for justice on behalf of victims. The network has ten full members and three affiliate members.