Summary A woman resident of Loi Nan Pha village, Demoso Township, Karenni State holds bomb fragments from a Myanmar junta airstrike on her village. ©Min Htet San, 2024 12 The Myanmar military junta’s attacks between October 2023 and November 2024 violate these core principles. This report documents deliberate airstrikes and aerial bombardments on schools, displacement camps, medical facilities, homes, and places of worship—with no identifiable military objectives. These are not accidents; they are intentional attacks on civilians and civilian objects, constituting serious breaches of international law. The junta’s use of airstrikes also constitutes collective punishment, especially following Operation 1027—a coordinated military offensive by resistance forces that overran dozens of junta bases in October 2023. Collective punishment is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law, constitutes a war crime, and cannot be justified as retaliation against prior attacks by opposing forces. The acts documented in this report constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and amount to prosecutable war crimes. At least 22 senior junta officials identified in this report should be investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted for ordering or failing to prevent these unlawful acts. This report also exposes potential corporate complicity in international crimes. Companies involved in supplying aviation fuel, weapons, military equipment, services, and dual-use technologies to the Myanmar military junta may be criminally liable for facilitating these war crimes. The junta’s ability, in particular, to conduct airstrikes depends on the supply of aviation fuel—fuel that is traceable, stoppable, and the direct enabler of civilians deaths from the skies. Fortify Rights calls on State Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and United Nations (U.N.) Member States to urgently notify relevant aviation-fuel suppliers of their potential liability for war crimes in Myanmar and to impose targeted sanctions to disrupt these supply chains.

Select target paragraph3