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Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on the human rights situation in Myanmar
“Conflict, displacement and economic collapse have combined to cause pain and misery across the country. Civilians are paying a terrible price. The number killed in violence in 2024 was the highest since the military launched their coup in 2021,” the High Commissioner said.
“Most civilians were killed in brutal and indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery shelling by the military, as it continues to lose its grip on power. The targeting of schools, places of worship, healthcare facilities, displacement camps and public events caused mass civilian casualties and displacement.”
At least 1,824 people were killed in 2024, including 531 women and 248 children, but these figures are probably a fraction of the real numbers as there is no verified information from several key areas where heavy fighting took place.
“The military continued its campaign of terrorizing the population through acts of extreme brutality, including beheadings, burnings, mutilations, executions, torture, and the use of human shields,” Türk said.
He said: “Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis continues to rage. Over 3.5 million people are displaced, and 20 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.”
Fifteen million people face hunger this year and in the latest appalling development, up to two million people are reported to be at risk of famine.
“I am gravely concerned by an upsurge of violence in Rakhine State,” Türk added.
“While there are no comprehensive verified figures, intense fighting between the military and the Arakan Army is estimated to have killed thousands of civilians and caused many more to flee. Members of the Rohingya community are frequently caught between the parties, who target them with complete impunity.”
He said: “Tens of thousands of Rohingya are estimated to have crossed the border into Bangladesh in 2024, despite the border being formally closed. More than 8,000 fled by sea in 2024, an 80 per cent increase over 2023. At least 650 Rohingya, almost half of them children, died at sea.
“In response to this horrific situation, reporting back to you is a very grim reading as you could just hear, it is imperative for the military immediately to end the violence, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and release all arbitrarily detained people – as demanded by Security Council resolution 2669.
“In Rakhine State, the Arakan Army must do more to honour their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and protect all individuals within the areas they control.”
Given the humanitarian, economic and political impacts fueling instability across the region, the international community must do more, the High Commissioner said.
“I therefore repeat my call for an arms embargo, coupled with targeted sanctions consistent with international law – including on jet fuel and dual-use goods – to better protect the people of Myanmar,” Türk said.
Breaking the cycle of impunity that has characterized military rule in Myanmar over decades also requires holding perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses to account, he added.
For more information and media requests, please contact
Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org
Jeremy Laurence + 41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org
Thameen Al-Kheetan +41 22 917 4232 / thameen.alkheetan@un.org
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STORY: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on the human rights situation in Myanmar
TRT: 03:21
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: Please shot list
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 28 FEBRUARY 2025, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior shot: Palais des Nations
- Interior shot: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Conflict, displacement and economic collapse have combined to cause pain and misery across the country. Civilians are paying a terrible price. The number killed in violence in 2024 was the highest since the military launched their coup in 2021.”
- Cut away: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Most civilians were killed in brutal and indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery shelling by the military, as it continues to lose its grip on power. The targeting of schools, places of worship, healthcare facilities, displacement camps and public events caused mass civilian casualties and displacement.”
- Cut away: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “The military continued its campaign of terrorizing the population through acts of extreme brutality, including beheadings, burnings, mutilations, executions, torture, and the use of human shields.”
- Cut away: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis continues to rage. Over 3.5 million people are displaced, and 20 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.”
- Cut away: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “I am gravely concerned by an upsurge of violence in Rakhine State. While there are no comprehensive verified figures, intense fighting between the military and the Arakan Army is estimated to have killed thousands of civilians and caused many more to flee. Members of the Rohingya community are frequently caught between the parties, who target them with complete impunity.”
- Cut away: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Tens of thousands of Rohingya are estimated to have crossed the border into Bangladesh in 2024, despite the border being formally closed. More than 8,000 fled by sea in 2024, an 80 per cent increase over 2023. At least 650 Rohingya, almost half of them children, died at sea.”
- Cut away: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “In response to this horrific situation, reporting back to you is a very grim reading as you could just hear, it is imperative for the military immediately to end the violence, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and release all arbitrarily detained people – as demanded by Security Council resolution 2669. In Rakhine State, the Arakan Army must do more to honour their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and protect all individuals within the areas they control.”
- Cut away: Room 20
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “I therefore repeat my call for an arms embargo, coupled with targeted sanctions consistent with international law – including on jet fuel and dual-use goods – to better protect the people of Myanmar.”
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends