Rohingya refugees in Myanmar suffer ‘heartbreaking’ misery and atrocities

Volker Türk speaks as new report released by an independent UN fact-finding mission that found this Human rights in the country – especially for minority groups – have reached rock bottom.

Myanmar is caught in a brutal civil war between the military and various resistance groups.

In August 2017, Myanmar’s military launched a crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine state, sparking more than 740,000 to flee across the border to Bangladesh, where most of the population still lives as refugees.

Five years since the military junta took control of Myanmar, they have killed at least 8,075 people and forced hundreds of thousands into conscription while the Arakan Army rebels – those de facto authorities in most of Rakhine State – have committed widespread abuses against the Rohingya, according to the report.

Covering June 2025 to May 2026, the new report details how an armed group’s decision in August 2025 to stop supplying other anti-military groups allowed the military to take advantage, even denying humanitarian aid in an effort to “crush opposition and force compliance.”

Rohingya continue to suffer

The report describes the Rohingya people experiencing “systematic discrimination by all parties, with absolute impunity.”

After losing most of its control of Rakhine State to the Arakan Army, the military has carried out most of its airstrikes to halt rebel advances – often in civilian areas – with at least 2,592 attacks taking place in the reporting period.

The same military that killed thousands of Rohingya in 2017 has conscripted around 125,000 people – many of them Rohingya – resulting in some people being forced to consume alcohol, being denied rest, and being physically abusedaccording to the report.

Despite its stated policy of “inclusive governance and equal treatment,” Arakan Army rebels have confiscated land, forced Rohingya to build their own detention camps, strictly controlled border crossings in Rakhine, and arbitrarily killed and tortured many people.

After being detained by the Arakan Army, Rohingya residents were reportedly detained beaten with bamboo, burned with matches, hung upside down with his body twisted until he fainted.

They also reported having chilies rubbed on their genitals and having their fingernails pulled off. Arakan soldiers reportedly forced a child to clean the bones and skulls of fellow Rohingya after the massacre.

Conflict economies destroy communities

The report also outlines how since the 2021 coup, Myanmar has become the world’s largest producer of opium and synthetic drugs, alongside a multibillion-dollar industry of fraud and unregulated mining of rare earth minerals.

Without the rule of law, this illicit economy has helped finance conflict, strengthen transnational criminal networks, and destroy Myanmar’s natural environment.

Women and girls face entrenched gender inequalities and, in recent years, have increasingly been forced to work in the mining sector, putting them at risk of sexual violence and retaliation if they speak out, the report said.

“The perpetrator is protected from external supervision or legal assistance“strengthening impunity and enabling the systematic recurrence of sexual violence and labor exploitation,” the report said.

Foreign nationals in managerial positions often exploit Burmese workers, forcing them into high-risk conditions and trapping them in debt bondage.

Marks nine years since their forced mass displacement of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, Bangladesh and throughout the region “facing deepening insecurity, shrinking protection space and reduced prospects for durable solutions, exacerbated by funding cuts impacting life-saving aid,” the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday.