War crimes during the Myanmar civil war (2021–present)

The military of Myanmar (Tatmadaw) and its allies have committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 2021–present Myanmar civil war.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Background

The military of Myanmar has been long accused of atrocities over the broader course of the internal conflict in Myanmar that has run for decades before the most recent phase in 2021.^[1]^[2]^[3] Thaslima Begum, wrote for The Guardian that "widespread sexual violence perpetrated by Myanmar's soldiers has been a hallmark of the culture of abuse and impunity in the country's decades-long civil wars with its ethnic minorities."^[1] Matt Wells, the director of Amnesty International's Crisis Response program, has said that "the Myanmar military has a blood-stained résumé of indiscriminate attacks with devastating consequences for civilians".^[2]

Prohibited weapons

Amnesty International has documented the use of banned cluster munitions by the Tatmadaw in northern Shan State.^[2]

Massacres and civilian attacks

In October 2023, the Yangon-based Institute for Strategy and Policy wrote that the Tatmadaw had committed 22 massacres in the country since their 2021 coup d'état, defining a massacre as "the killing of 10 or more civilians at once".^[4] During the anti-junta forces's Operation 1027 offensive, war crimes and abuses by the Tatmadaw escalated.^[2] The military has repeatedly said it does not target civilians and often claims it is resistance forces that commit the violence.^[5]

The Tatmadaw has increased the use of its historic four cuts strategy that involves violent collective punishment against civilians.^[6] A video showed displaced people scrambling for cover under a cloud of tear gas in Myanmar.^[7]

The military used civilians as human shields, forcing people to walk ahead of troops to detonate potential landmines in their path, protecting their own troops.^[8]

In late 2021 and throughout 2022 Catholic Bayingyi villages were targeted by the Tatmadaw in Sagaing region, leading to at least 5 civilian deaths.^[9]

Over the course of a week in 2023, army troops in Sagaing killed a total of 99 villagers, beheaded 20 resistance fighters, and raped at least 3 women.^[10]

In March 2022, army troops tortured and executed at least 30 villagers during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, including 3 Buddhist monks.^[11] In mid-April, Myanmar Air Force bombed a celebration gathering during the Pazigyi massacre in Sagaing Region, killing at least 165 civilians, including several children, days before Thingyan, the Burmese new year.^[12] The junta's spokesperson General Zaw Min Tun stated that they chose to attack the village as the village was allegedly opening a PDF office. The United Nations condemned the attack, citing a disregard of the military's duty to protect civilians.^[13]

Attacks on religious buildings

According to Amnesty International photo and video analysis, as well as interviews with witnesses, indicated the Myanmar air force had dropped bombs on three locations near the St Peter Baptist Church in Sagaing's Kanan village on 7 January 2024, killed 17 villagers, including nine children, while at least 20 people were injured.^[14]

In 2022, the Tatmadaw looted and torched Catholic chapels in several Bayingyi villages of the Sagaing region, with clergymen targeted and arrested. The village of Chaung Yoe was reportedly the hardest hit, being attacked with artillery, leaving on 20 of the 350 buildings left standing.^[15]

Treatment of prisoners of war

Junta forces have committed severe abuses against captured rebels, including public executions and torture.^[16] As an example, on 7 November 2023, two members of the Yaw Defense Force, Phoe Tay and Thar Htaung, were publicly burned to death by junta soldiers and allied Pyusawhti militias members in the Gangaw township's Myauk Khin Yan village, Magway region, after suffering from torture. The military denied it was involved in the execution, though CNN has proven that the incident occurred at a time in which the regime was in full control of the village.^[5]

Pro-junta paramilitaries

The pro-junta Pyusawhti militias have been accused of several atrocities against civilians as well as forcibly recruiting local men by threatening to burn down their villages.^[17]