The United Nations Office at Geneva
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HRC63 - Human Rights in Myanmar - 07 September 2026
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22:27
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MP4
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1.6 GB
Opening statements:
- Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar
- Tun Khin, civil society representative
- Thinzar Shunlei Yi, civil society representative
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar, at the 63rd regular session of the Human Rights Council.
Opening statements:
- Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar
- Tun Khin, civil society representative
- Thinzar Shunlei Yi, civil society representative
Teleprompter
[Other language spoken]
President, Excellencies, colleagues, the human rights crisis in Myanmar is a matter of the greatest international concern.
The report under discussion is further evidence of this.
The devastating regional impacts of the crisis are clearer by the day.
Millions of people have been forced from their homes and hundreds have died on dangerous sea crossings.
Illegal economic activity is flourishing, with an impact on the environment and economies throughout the region.
Soaring humanitarian needs and reduced funding are undermining basic services, creating a real risk that diseases like cholera could spread across borders.
Credible sources have verified the killing of more than 1200 civilians during the reporting period.
Open sources indicate that the actual figure may be more than 3000.
Air strikes remained the main cause of civilian deaths, confirming the military's disregard for calls to end hostilities and protect civilians.
Forced conscription has become a key tactic used by the military to sustain its advances on the battlefield, control the population and spread fear.
The military's denial and instrumentalization of aid have worsened the situation, particularly in minority areas.
The catastrophic situation of the Rohingya is a wound that affects the entire country and other states, particularly Bangladesh.
Rohingya in Rakhine are subjected to widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses, including arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual and gender based violence in forced disappearance, forced labour and recruitment by both the military and the Arakan Army.
I'm particularly concerned by the seizure of land by the Arakan Army in Rohingya areas.
This makes their plight even worse and their return home even more challenging.
Much of my professional life has been dedicated to protecting the winger.
Their unspeakable suffering over decades has to end and the involvement of the international community is absolutely essential.
[Other language spoken]
President, illegal businesses are taking full advantage of the collapse of the rule of law in Myanmar, drugs, scam centres and illegal mines, uprighting lives, uprighting lives, denying the people of Myanmar the use of their own resources and fueling the conflict through payments to the military.
Myanmar is the leading global producer of opium and metametamines, and scam centres have expanded along border areas and in major cities, causing major concerns around fraud, kidnapping, human trafficking, slavery, sexual violence and exploitation.
Rare earth mining sites have surged by more than 150% since the coup, causing air pollution and contaminating rivers on both sides of Myanmar's border with Thailand.
The use of highly destructive mining techniques has led to rampant deforestation and runoff water saturated with radioactive elements and toxic chemicals including arsenic and lead.
This contamination poses risks to drinking water and river based livelihoods in neighbouring Thailand and the wider Mekong Basin.
Mining operations also rely on exploitative labour practises and subject people, particularly women, to deadly hazards, institutionalised abuse and systematic sexual violence.
[Other language spoken]
President, we are here today because efforts to resolve the crisis over many years have been insufficient.
It is clear that if this continues, the situation will deteriorate further and prospects for resolution will become even more distant.
Myanmar is testing the credibility of the international community's expressed desire for change, particularly since the military staged elections in an attempt to gain international recognition.
Engagement is important, but it must be founded on human rights.
Efforts to normalise relations without any sign whatsoever that the military are complying with fundamental obligations and international law will only fuel even greater violence and violations against civilians in Myanmar and beyond.
The very Krim human rights picture I have painted is a reality check on all those who could bring influence to bear who are pretending that the situation is different.
The International Court of Justice upcoming determination on the merits of the case of genocide brought by The Gambia and others will be vitally important.
All countries need to use their leverage to press for change and find new ways to push for progress.
We need more than so-called calibrated engagement.
We need human rights based engagement.
This should be conditioned on benchmarks that demonstrate A genuine commitment by the military to ending violence, allowing humanitarian access and releasing all those arbitrarily detained.
It should prioritise accountability, including for atrocity crimes committed against the Rohingya.
Engagement should not legitimise a system that has disregarded all demands for restraint and committed endless violations.
I urge member states to refer the full situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court through the Security Council and to end transfers to Myanmar of arms, ammunition, chat, fuel and dual use items where there's a clear risk they could facilitate violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
There can be no question of returning Rohingya and other refugees to Myanmar at a time of such insecurity and danger.
Such returns would constitute A flagrant breach of the Norway Full Moon principle.
And I, I and I call for all states to support the ME people of Myanmar politically and financially in their demands for democracy, justice and human rights.
Thank you, thank you High Commissioner.
We are going to use remaining time to hear all the presentations by the panel and I now give the floor to Mr Nicholas Kongjian, the Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
[Other language spoken]
President, thank you, excellencies.
It is an honour to present the 8th Annual report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
Unfortunately, I must report that the situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate.
Serious international crimes are being committed with greater frequency and intensity.
The Myanmar military is increasingly relying on aerial attacks and civilians are the principal victims.
Attacks escalated in the run up to the elections completed in January and have continued unabated.
2 weeks ago, the military bombed a monastery in Sagai region during a Buddhist retreat.
1 of more than 800 aerial attacks on religious buildings since the military coup.
Schools and hospitals are also frequently hit.
The Myanmar military is making greater use of paramotors and drones, which are harder to detect than planes, giving people less time to seek shelter.
We have also observed an increase in double tap attacks where a second attack hits first responders and those helping the wounded.
Our investigations are progressing.
We have identified a number of units involved in these attacks and the air bases from which they operate.
We have also advanced investigations into torture in military run detention facilities and identified commanders and interrogators.
Our evidence includes accounts of horrific sexual and gender based crimes, including gang rape and the burning of genitals with cigarettes.
[Other language spoken]
President, our mandate from the Council is to investigate serious international crimes committed in Myanmar.
We collect evidence of such crimes regardless of the political loyalty, ethnicity or religion of the perpetrators or the victims.
In Rakhine State, the conflict has intensified significantly and we are investigating allegations of killings, arbitrary detention, torture and forced displacement committed by various armed groups.
All ethnicities in Rakhine State have suffered from these crimes.
Many Rakhine and other groups have been victims of aerial bombings, artillery attacks, and obstructions to humanitarian assistance.
Rohingya and other minorities caught between the combatants continue to take enormous risks to escape the violence.
Since early 2024, more than 154,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh, joining close to a million others who cannot safely return home.
As the violence and insecurity in Rakhine continues, we have collected substantial evidence from more than 1600 sources, including videos, photographs, geospatial imagery, social media posts, and information on bank transactions and weapons supply chains.
We've collected over 750 testimonies from witnesses.
This evidence is helping us establish what crimes happened, who is responsible, and who may have finance, facilitated, or benefited from these crimes.
The mechanism has shared extensive evidence and analysis with authorities pursuing accountability for crimes committed against the Rohingya, including at the International Criminal Court and in the Argentine District Court.
We have also shared information concerning crimes committed since the 2021 military takeover with authorities from several states.
Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice held hearings concerning Myanmar's obligations under the Genocide Convention.
The Mechanism provided much of the evidence now before the judges in that case.
I am grateful to the many individuals who took enormous risk to share information with the Mechanism.
They do so because they want the truth to be known and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
Our responsibility is to ensure that their courage is not in vain.
The mechanism will continue working to collect evidence that will prove the crimes and identities of those responsible and help facilitate national and international authorities to use this evidence to bring those responsible to justice.
Thank you, thank you, and I now give the floor to Mr Dunkin, the President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation, for his presentation.
[Other language spoken]
President, in 1992, a Myanmar military offensive force 1/4 of a million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The UN call on the authorities to create the necessary conditions to stop refugees fleeing and enable them to return.
Those conditions were never created.
Member states failed to uphold international law or act on repeated UN resolutions and warnings.
Persecution escalated into genocide more than 30 years later.
TODAY Report High Commissioner shows that the consequences, the abuses described in this report are not separate.
Together they are driving Rohingya towards erasure from our homeland.
The Myanmar military continues to possibly conscript Rohingya and block humanitarian aid across most of the Rakhine State.
Our economy now holds power.
Rohingya now phase two oppressors, both denying their identity, their rights and their future in their homeland.
Rohingyas are being denied the means to live.
Food, medicine, movement and livelihoods are restricted.
These restrictions can kill as effectively as bullets.
Arkan army use the same racist language as the Myanmar military and denies Rohingya identity.
Families are ordered to provide one boy or one girl for recruitment.
Women and girls possibly recruited by Arkanami are raped.
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK has documented widespread sexual violence used to intimidate and repress Rohingya.
Rohingya homes, land, mosque and graveyards are destroyed or taken.
They are prevented from returning while other communities are settled on Rohingya land and some are forced to build this settlement.
This is a raise in Rohingya from the land and making return impossible.
In 1992, UN said condition must be created for the Rohingya to return.
More than 30 years later, today's report confirm those conditions still do not exist yet.
Government discuss returning Rohingya to the conditions from which they continue to flee.
Rohingyas are still being driven out.
Around 150,000 Rohingya have arrived to Bangladesh since early 2024 with no safe route to protection.
Others risk their life as high sea are exploited by traffickers in Bangladesh.
1.2 million Rohingya remain in refugee camps.
Conditions are increasingly desperate.
Now governments are cutting the barrier aid they need to survive.
And when Rohingya fleet to other countries, they face discrimination, detention and threats to return to Myanmar.
There is nowhere safe for Rohingya to go.
This is what continuing genocide looks like.
The longer than the military and our economy act with impunity, the closer we come to see that complete erasure of Rohingya from Rakhine State.
We welcome High Commissioners report and its strong recommendations.
But Rohingya have had reports and recommendations for more than 30 years.
There is no lack of evidence, no lack of international law.
What has been missing is action by Member states.
Member States must now impose targeted sanctions on the Myanmar military and the economy.
They must restrict the arms, aviation, fuel and revenue streams enabling further atrocities.
They must urgently restore humanitarian funding, including the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
They must facilitate cross-border aid and demand unrestricted humanitarian access in Rakhine State.
Maximum pressure must be applied on the Myanmar military and the Arkhan Army to end persecution and ensure Rohingya protection and equal rights.
Rohingyas are the native people of Arkhan, native people of Rakhina state we live in, side by side with other minorities.
The economy must recognise Rohingya identity, a stop season Rohingya land and allow Rohingya to return home.
Host countries must protect Rohingya refugees and not detain them to send back to the genocide.
Rohingya must lead decision about when and under what conditions return takes place.
Any return must be with security, protection, equal rights, restoration of their land and full citizenship.
This report must mark the point when recommendations finally lead to action.
Member State must act now before Rohingyas are ready for Rakhine State.
[Other language spoken]
I now give the floor to Miss Tinzar Shunlei Yi, programme director at the Sisters to Sisters Global Campaign.
Mr President's Excellencies, I speak today as a woman, human rights defender and a refugee living on the Thailand Burma border.
My design is entirely connected to what continues inside Myanmar.
I've just returned from Causes Bazaar where we mark the 9th anniversary of the 2017 Rohingya genocide and from consultation with major ethnic refugee groups in Malaysia.
AAB BS Tracker records more than 8300 people killed by in the military since a 2021 coup.
[Other language spoken]
The military enforces is forecast strategy blocking food, medicine and even women's menstrual product.
Gender based deprivation used deliberately as a weapons of war.
Women's movement across Myanmar are gaining strength in documenting this violence and building solidarity across border.
The women legal bomber has recorded 963 cases of conflict related sexual and gender based violence since the coup as sister to sister.
Our own media monitoring report collected 295 cases of sexual, gender and sexual orientation based violence, finding the military responsible for 80% of the violence targeting women and the LGBT anchor community.
This is not abstract.
In July 2026, Honda forces detained torture and executed 3 young LGBT humanitarian workers from our partner organisations, the Ant Humanitarian 18 in the Nandari region and Leon.
They were killed for delivering aid to displaced family for Rohingya women.
Sexual violence is the through line of the genocide itself.
UN investigator found it was a hallmark of the military 2017 clearance operations, with the military responsible for 82% of corroborated gang rapes.
Nine years on, that violence has changed hands, not stopped.
A 2026 report documents gang rape against Rohingya women and now under Oregon Army control in Rakhine.
And the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict has condemned continued rape by both the military and the Oregon Army as a tactic of war.
[Other language spoken]
President, land rights are women's rights.
The Mizzou Dam displays more than 15,000 people from over 60 villages when it was suspended in 2011, and it is women who carry that burden for over a decade, often excluded from a consultation and denying fair compensation.
The Honda is now pushing to resume the project following Meyerland's business to China this year resuming its rigs.
New displacement, new violence and forecloses any possibility or dialogue out of this crisis.
The military is also fracturing from within people's goal recorded over 2500 defection, surrender and capture in 2025 alone, more than 2200 a month.
The rising number of people detain in connection with the conflict needs ardent accountable protection reintegration support.
Nearly 23,000 political prisoner remained in military custody.
The sham election has not stopped the booming or the arrest.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor has already souled and arrests were rented again May online for crimes against humanity in 2017.
Any diplomatic legitimization of his government undermines that process and every day more survivor of this violence arrived in Bangladesh, Malaysia and allow the Thailand border met with pushbacks and deportation instead of century.
Returning them to Myanmar is a death sentence.
I urge this Council to 1.
Ensure the ICC arrest warrant request against Meow line explicitly encompasses sexual violence against Rohingya and support university jurisdiction cases that treat documentation from women's human rights organisation as usable evidence.
[Other language spoken]
The rightly and flexibly found women LED LGBT IQ inclusive documentation and protection organisation during this war with no state protection.
[Other language spoken]
Impulse and binding embargo on military aviation fuel, EMS transfer and dual use drone technology and reject all diplomatic legitimization of the military sham elections and is land and resource seizures, including the resumption of the Mizzone dam.
[Other language spoken]
Support safe, accountable protection and reintegration for defecting soldiers and people detained in connection with this conflict.
[Other language spoken]
Guarantee regional refugee protection, enforced deportation and pushback in Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh and grant legal status and work permit to refugees, especially survivor or gender based violence.
[Other language spoken]