5 | RAMPANT INSTABILITY INCOMPATIBLE WITH ELECTIONS While Myanmar has experienced armed conflict without interruption since its independence, the security situation has dramatically worsened since the coup. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has described it as a “human rights crisis characterized by violence and atrocities8”. Data collected by conflict monitoring organizations highlights the human toll of the war triggered by the military takeover. The Myanmar Peace Monitor project reports 32,267 armed conflict fatalities, including 8,001 civilians, between 1 April 2022 and 9 September 2025, and over 2,500 airstrikes and 4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) since the coup. The Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar has recorded over 80 mass casualty events where at least ten civilians were killed, with most perpetrated by junta troops. It also tallied nearly 9,500 civilian deaths and 12,000 airstrikes between the coup and May 2025. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project has reported a much higher figure of at least 80,000 killed since the coup, and ranked Myanmar as the third most deadly country in the world in 2024. There are credible reports that war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of thermobaric weapons, banned cluster munitions, human shields, and sexual violence, have been committed repeatedly by Tatmadaw troops across the country. The military junta has been targeting civilian populations with ever-increasing ferocity. A massive escalation in airstrikes by 8 United Nations Human Rights Council, “Situation of human rights in Myanmar: Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights”, 16 June 2025, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/ default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session59/advance-version/a-hrc59-57-aev.pdf 25