GENEVA: At least 170 civilians were killed in more than 400 military air strikes conducted in Myanmar during nearly two months surrounding its widely-criticised elections, the United Nations said on Friday (Jan 30).
Myanmar’s month-long, three-phase vote, which wrapped up on Sunday, was imposed by the military in what democracy watchdogs dismissed as an attempt to rebrand army rule.
The UN rights office, which has been harshly critical of the elections, warned on Friday that they had failed to respect fundamental human rights and that military attacks on the population had continued unabated.
“These elections did not prevent violence from continuing throughout 2025,” James Rodehaver, head of the rights office’s Myanmar team, told reporters in Geneva.
Speaking from Bangkok, he highlighted that 2025 was “the year in which more civilians died from airstrikes than any other since 2021”, and that “air strikes continued even through election days”.
The UN said “credible sources” had verified that at least “170 civilians were killed in some 408 military aerial attacks reported by open sources during the voting period”, the nearly two months from early December.
Rodehaver warned that the numbers could rise, pointing out that their verification was complicated since communications are cut off and due to “the fear of individuals in some of these locations to speak to us”.
“FORCING PEOPLE TO THE BALLOT BOX”
The UN rights office pointed to initial reports of a military air strike “on a populated area with no reported presence of combatants” that killed up to 50 civilians in Bhamo Township, in Kachin State on Jan 22.
To curb any dissent, the military had also arrested 324 men and 80 women under its unilaterally adopted election protection law, including for minor online activity, the office said, decrying the “grossly disproportionate penalties” doled out.
In one case, it said a 49-year sentence was handed down for posting anti-election materials.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/170-civilians-killed-myanmar-airstrikes-election-un-5896486
