This week, Myanmar’s democratically elected National Unity Government (NUG) and the Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) will present new evidence of genocide and massacres to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul as part of an ongoing investigation launched by the Turkish authorities in June 2022, after MAP submitted evidence of crimes committed by the junta.
The NUG evidence centres on the 2023 Pazigyi Massacre, which saw 157 civilians killed and dozens more injured. The single deadliest mass killing since the coup in February 2021, it cries out for accountability.
On 11 April, junta fighter jets carried out a half-hour attack on Pazigyi village, where 800 people had gathered to celebrate the opening of an office of the NUG’s armed wing, the People’s Defence Force. Two 500lb bombs were dropped on the village, followed by a helicopter shooting at civilians.
The explosions from the bombs were so severe that eyewitnesses reported seeing body parts thrown as far as 300m from the points of impact. The NUG’s Human Rights Ministry documented the deaths of 157 civilians in Pazigyi, including 27 women and 19 children. Many of the injuries caused life-changing disabilities. Those who survived suffered severe fractures and burns. Hundreds of people were displaced and forced to flee into nearby forests. Medical teams did what they could to assist the injured and dying, but later that day, a fighter jet returned and carried out a further 15-minute attack against first responders, which severely hampered the relief and recovery effort.
The Myanmar Accountability Project is also submitting testimony gathered by local investigators into a series of junta rocket attacks against the village of Hpon Nyo Leik, in Buthidaung Township in Northern Rakhine State, at the end of January 2024. Grassroots investigation teams have documented the killing of 18 people and the wounding of 50, including women and children. The strikes took place after the Arakan Army, which opposes the junta, took up positions in the village – but this does not justify the use of such indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.
As part of an initiative to build accountability institutions at a grassroots level, partners we work with have documented a pattern of abuse, adding to evidence that the genocide against the Rohingya is continuing as it has for decades. Massacres are a feature of the ongoing repression against civilians in Rakhine State, who are caught between junta forces and the Arakan Army, which has forced the regime out of the entire state, bar a handful of townships.
The NUG has requested that the Geneva-based Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), which has gathered millions of pieces of evidence from Myanmar civilians, submit evidence about the attacks to support the investigation in Turkey. Given how overwhelmed the Turkish justice system is, this would add significantly to the prospects for our case.
We appeal to the IIMM to respond positively to the NUG’s request. The IIMM has already shared vast amounts of evidence and analysis for proceedings at the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the Federal Prosecutor in Argentina concerning crimes against the Rohingya. It is also responding to specific requests for information from authorities in the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions, often concerning post-coup violence.
According to the NUG’s Human Rights Ministry, since the coup, there have been at least 413 massacres: mass-killing incidents where over five people died. More than 4,377 people were killed in documented massacres, including at least 1,545 children and at least 757 women. Last month alone, an estimated 277 civilians were killed across the country.
The UN has identified two alarming new trends: 26 allegations of the use of chemicals attached to explosive devices, in six states and regions; and the use of armed paramotors, low-flying tactical aircraft that are used to drop munitions almost entirely on civilian locations.
Meanwhile, the latest UN humanitarian figures paint a dire picture: an estimated 19.9 million people – over a third of Myanmar's population – are in need of humanitarian assistance, representing an increase of over 1 million compared to 2024. Internal displacement has reached a record high of more than 3.5 million people. Children are bearing the brunt of the crisis, with 6.3 million children in need of assistance, of which an estimated 1.1 million were left without access to protection services, increasing their vulnerability to violence, neglect, and exploitation.
Myanmar’s internal meltdown is exacerbating the already dire regional refugee crisis. The UN says that as many as 150,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in the past two years, adding to the 1.2 million already living there in abject poverty, as the UN’s monthly assistance package dwindles to the point where starvation is now inevitable. According to a new Amnesty report, repatriating them under existing conditions in northern Rakhine State would be “catastrophic”.
The need for robust action has never been greater. Some 30,000 political prisoners have been jailed since the coup. The army has pressganged 65,000 young people into forced conscription as cannon fodder for the front lines. The brutal excesses of Myanmar’s junta are going unchecked. Meanwhile, upcoming – and widely rejected – elections called by the dictatorship will likely see violence increase.
The people of Myanmar are crying out for justice. Along with demands for humanitarian access and an end to junta attacks on civilians, accountability must be part of the international response. Our case in Turkey offers some hope to a people who have been denied dignity, peace and prosperity for far too long.
Tun Aung Shwe represents Myanmar’s National Unity Government in Australia, and Christopher Gunness is Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project
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