Myanmar junta accused of systematically weaponizing humanitarian aid, new briefing warns

Mizzima

In a new briefing released on 9 December, Progressive Voice (PV) says the Myanmar junta is systematically obstructing, manipulating, and profiting from humanitarian aid while escalating violence against the civilian population and aid workers.

The Myanmar civil society research group describes a pattern of administrative control, physical blockades, and targeted violence that it says has transformed natural disasters and conflict-driven emergencies into unnecessary humanitarian catastrophes. 

The 28 March 2025 7.7-magnitude earthquake in central Myanmar that killed at least 4,000 people is cited as the most recent and obvious example. While calling for international assistance, the junta simultaneously restricted access to quake-hit areas, denied travel authorizations, confiscated relief supplies, and imposed invasive registration requirements on humanitarian aid groups and survivors, the briefing relates. 

An incident wherein aid bearing the logo of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was diverted to military warehouses in Naypyidaw is recounted.

Another incident describes how Australian doctors reported the theft of lifesaving medicines en route to hard-hit areas in Mandalay and Sagaing Regions.