Update on the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar
Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the 4th anniversary of the coup:
Interactive dialogue on Myanmar at the 57th Session of the Human Rights Council
Delivered by Nada al Nashif, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
24 September 2024
Press briefing notes
24 May 2024: Myanmar: Growing human rights crisis in Rakhine state
Reports
Following the coup in Myanmar on 1 February 2021
2024: OHCHR Report to Human Rights Council’s 57th session
Prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 52/31, this report presents findings based on OHCHR monitoring and verification of the overall situation of human rights in Myanmar regarding alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as well as the rule of law, since 1 April 2023. It concludes by examining the impact of the crisis on the mental health of the population and good practices in provision of mental health services by civil society and community-based organizations. The report concludes with recommendations to the military, armed groups and international community, including to ensure accountability.
2024: OHCHR Report to the General Assembly’s 79th session
The Human Rights Council, in paragraph 43 of its resolution 53/26 on the situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, adopted on 14 July 2023, requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a report to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session.
The report of the High Commissioner to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-sixth session is contained in document A/HRC/56/23. The Secretariat therefore has the honour to refer the General Assembly to that report.
2024: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council’s 55th session
The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/3, in which the Council decided to hold, during its fifty-third session, a panel discussion on the measures necessary to find durable solutions to the Rohingya crisis and to end all forms of human rights violations and abuses against Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar. Also in that resolution, the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a report on the panel discussion to the Council at its fifty-fifth session. The present report contains a summary of the panel discussion, which was held on 21 June 2023.
2023: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council’s 54th Session
Prepared pursuant to A/HRC/RES/50/3, this report identifies trends and patterns of human rights violations that occurred in Myanmar between 1 April 2022 and 31 July 2023. This report documents incidents affecting the civilian population with particular focus on military airstrikes, ground operations, and arson, and also covers acts of violence by anti-military armed groups. It further addresses human rights concerns of the Rohingya community. Recommendations are made to the military, the National Unity Government, and the international community.
2023: OHCHR Report to the General Assembly’s 78th session
The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/3, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report on the human rights situation in Myanmar at the seventy eighth session of the General Assembly. The report serves to identify trends and patterns of human rights violations in Myanmar between 1 February 2021 and 30 April 2023, with a focus on the human rights impacts as a result of the denial of humanitarian access. The present comprehensive documentation is further supplemented by data on the situation of human rights and humanitarian access in Rakhine State after Cyclone Mocha in May 2023
2023: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council’s 53rd Session
The present report, prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/49/23, identifies trends and patterns of human rights violations in Myanmar between 1 February 2021 and 30 April 2023 with a focus on the human rights impact of the denial of humanitarian access. The report analyzes actions by all duty-bearers and finds that the Myanmar military is most responsible for the negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights and on delivery of humanitarian action. The report documents that the military has established an all-encompassing system of control based on instrumentalization of the legal and administrative spheres in Myanmar. Urgent and concrete steps are needed to ensure essential needs of all people are met, including food and healthcare, and to respect, protect and fulfil peoples’ fundamental rights. This report concludes with recommendations to all parties, including the military authorities, the National Unity Government’, and the international community
2023: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council’s 52nd Session
Prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 47/1, this report identifies trends and patterns of human rights violations that occurred in Myanmar between 1 February 2022 and 31 January 2023. Two years after launching a coup, the military has brought the country into a perpetual human rights crisis through continuous use of violence, including killing, arbitrarily arresting, torturing, forcibly disappearing, prosecuting, and sentencing anti-coup opponents. Urgent, concrete actions are needed to ensure that all people in Myanmar enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms. Recommendations are made to all parties, including military authorities, the ‘National Unity Government’, and the international community.
2022: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council’s 51st session
Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 46/21, the present report includes an assessment of actions taken by various actors following the release in 2019 by the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar of a conference room paper on the economic interests of the Myanmar military. It also contains an identification of continuing and emerging challenges, using examples to highlight relevant issues.
2022: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council’s 49th session
Prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 46/21, the present report sets out the trends and patterns of violations and significant regressions in human rights that have occurred in Myanmar since 1 February 2021. Myanmar is caught in a downward spiral of violence characterized by the increasingly brutal repression of individuals actually or seemingly opposed to military rule, by violent resistance to the coup and by several active non-international armed conflicts. Action must be taken to stem the pace at which individuals are being targeted by the military authorities and stripped of their rights, their lives and their livelihoods. The High Commissioner addresses recommendations to all parties in Myanmar, including the military authorities, the international community and the United Nations system.
Reports
Before the coup in Myanmar on 1 February 2021
2020: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council's 43th session
The present report is submitted pursuant to resolution 39/2 of the Human Rights Council, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit to it, at its forty-third session, a report on the root causes of the human rights violations and abuses faced by the Rohingya Muslim minority and other minorities in Myanmar. In the report, factors are identified that underlie the historical and current patterns of human rights violations and abuses against ethnic and religious minorities in Myanmar. The report concludes with recommendations on measures to be taken by the Government, the international community and other stakeholders to improve the situation.
2019: OHCHR Report to the Human Rights Council’s 40th session
In its resolution S-27/1, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report on the situation of human rights of Rohingya at its fortieth session, including on the level of cooperation and access given to the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar and other United Nations human rights mechanisms, the implementation of recommendations of the United Nations human rights system, including those made by the Council in resolution S-27/1, and to make recommendations for future actions.
2018: The Invisible Boundary – Criminal prosecutions of journalism in Myanmar
The present report is produced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights pursuant to the universal mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights under General Assembly resolution 48/141. The report examines the freedom of the press in Myanmar and the impact that high profile prosecutions of journalists have had in creating a culture of selfcensorship among journalists during the country’s transition to democracy.
Publications
COVID-19 and Myanmar
OHCHR aims to put human rights at the heart of the response of States, UN partners, civil society and the private sector to COVID-19. The graph shows recommendations addressed to Myanmar by the UN Human Rights Mechanisms, the Human Rights Council, the Universal Periodic Review, the Special Procedures mandate holders and the Treaty Bodies in the 5 years prior to the pandemic, which OHCHR assesses as particularly relevant in responding to the pandemic in an inclusive and sustainable way. Recommendations addressed to Myanmar can be found at the Universal Human Rights Index at https://uhri.ohchr.org/.
Press briefing notes
24 May 2024: Myanmar: Growing human rights crisis in Rakhine state
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