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.