⁨⁨Echoes of Artillery Destruction

April 1, 2025

Since the military seized power in 2021, resistance against the junta has grown rapidly across Burma. In response, the junta has resorted to increasingly violent measures to suppress this resistance. In areas where armed resistance against the junta is particularly intense, junta forces have been firing heavy weaponry and carrying out airstrikes on non-military targets. Attacks into civilian wards and villages occur on a daily basis, resulting in civilian casualties and the destruction of homes and buildings on a mass scale.

The protection of the rights of civilians is a basic principle of international humanitarian law. This is codified in the Geneva Convention, which Burma has acceded. Its fundamental principles stipulate that parties to an armed conflict must distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and civilian and military objects. In Burma, civilians are the target of the junta’s indiscriminate attacks, their property is a target of destruction, and excessive use of force has been used against them. This has caused mass displacement, posed severe threat to their lives, and ultimately led to their plight. In this sense, the junta’s direct artillery attacks on civilians are breaking basic principles of international law.

According to data documented by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), since the coup in 2021 until March 31, 2025, (1133) civilians have been confirmed by name as having died due to attacks with heavy weaponry by junta forces, across the country. Additionally, at least (903) more deaths have been separately documented that require verification.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)⁩