Myanmar air strikes killed at least 170 civilians during election: UN
UN rights chief Volker Turk says that the suffering of Myanmar’s people since the 2021 coup has deepened with the military-staged election.
At least 170 civilians have been killed in more than 400 military air strikes conducted in Myanmar during nearly two months surrounding its widely-criticised elections, the United Nations has said.
The UN rights office said on Friday that "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 — between December 2025 and January 2026".
James Rodehaver, head of the rights office's Myanmar team, warned that the actual numbers might be higher.
Speaking from Bangkok, he told reporters in Geneva that the verification covered a period from December to late last week, from the beginning of the election campaign and up until the three phases of voting were nearly complete.
But he warned that "because of the way in which communications are cut off and because of, frankly, the fear of individuals in some of these locations to speak to us, it sometimes takes a lot longer to get that information".
His comments came amid global outrage over Myanmar's month-long vote that democracy watchdogs dismissed as a rebranding of army rule, five years after a coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi.
‘Profound and widespread despair’
UN rights chief Volker Turk warned in a statement on Friday that "the profound and widespread despair inflicted on the people of Myanmar" since the 2021 coup "has only deepened with the recent election staged by the military".
He pointed out that "many people chose either to vote or not to vote purely out of fear, flatly at odds with their internationally guaranteed civil and political rights – and with ripple effects on their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights".
"The conflict and insecurity continued unabated in large parts of the country. Opposition candidates and some ethnic groups were excluded," he said.
His office pointed out that the elections were held in only 263 of 330 townships, and often exclusively in urban centres under military control, and limited in conflict areas.
‘Large segments of population excluded’
"As a result, large segments of the population, especially the displaced and minorities, such as the ethnic Rohingya, were excluded," it pointed out.
Turk decried that five years of military rule in Myanmar had been "characterised by repression of political dissent, mass arbitrary arrests, arbitrary conscription, widespread surveillance and limitation of civic space".
"Now, the military is seeking to entrench its rule-by-violence after forcing people to the ballot box," he said.
"This couldn't be further from civilian rule."