WISCONSIN, USA – According to figures compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, more military attacks against civilians have been launched in Myanmar over the last year than in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, or Yemen, and the country has also been designated as the world’s deadliest place for protesters in 2021.
The Myanmar military is bombing large swaths of the country with helicopter gunships and jets. Entire villages have been destroyed by fire. Schools, hospitals, and places of worship have all been heavily shelled. The military has set fire to villagers’ homes, forcing them to seek refuge in the jungle, where they have found caves to hide and spend sleepless nights.
Massacres have become a form of collective punishment for the junta’s brutality against a nationwide civilian resistance.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 578,200 people have fled their homes since the military junta staged the coup in February 2021.
