In August, Myanmar military forces carried out airstrikes, drone and gyrocopter attacks, artillery fire, village burnings, forced recruitment, and restrictions on humanitarian assistance across multiple states and regions. Civilians were killed in homes, displacement sites, monasteries, hospitals, and villages under resistance or ethnic armed organisation control. On 21 August, a Myanmar Air Force jet bombed a Buddhist monastery during a meditation retreat in Myaung Township, killing 14 people and injuring around 20. On 24 August, two military fighter jets bombed a Buddhist monastery housing a primary school in Paletwa Township while children were in class, killing five civilians, including two children, and injuring 17 others, including nine children.
Rohingya remain without citizenship, freedom of movement or effective protection in Rakhine State, where they continue to face abuses by both the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army. In areas under United League of Arakan and Arakan Army control, BHRN received reports during August of forced unpaid labour, the demolition of unoccupied Rohingya-owned houses, new checkpoints and curfew hours applied to Rohingya alone, the transfer of shops belonging to Rohingya who had fled, the detailed registration of Rohingya households and occupations, and a multi-level permission requirement for inter-township travel. In Sittwe, junta authorities ordered Rohingya leaders in five wards to provide 20 men aged 18 to 35 each month, while residents said communities were also forced to contribute money for recruits’ salaries and food.
Thailand normalised relations with the Myanmar junta in August and said it would support Myanmar’s return to “full and equal participation” in ASEAN, while protection for Myanmar people outside the country weakened. The United States ended Temporary Protected Status for nearly 4,000 Myanmar nationals, Malaysia moved ahead with returns to Myanmar while taking greater control over refugee registration, and junta authorities tightened passport procedures for Myanmar nationals in Thailand. BHRN calls on ASEAN members to reject Thailand’s push to restore the junta’s full participation and urges states to expand and enforce sanctions on aviation fuel, aircraft maintenance, spare parts, drones and other dual-use technologies used in the junta’s air campaign.