Myanmar’s UN Envoy says over 900 cases of conflict-related sexual violence by the military documented since coup

Mizzima

Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, told the UN Security Council on 20 June that more than 900 cases of rape, gang rape, and sexual torture have been documented since the 2021 coup, telling the Council’s open debate on Women, Peace and Security that the military systematically deploys conflict-related sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Speaking on behalf of the National Unity Government (NUG), Kyaw Moe Tun said that in February 2026 alone, 63 women were killed, primarily through aerial bombardments and artillery shelling, and 66 were injured, including young girls and pregnant women.

Citing reports including those from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the ambassador said the conflict has displaced more than 3.6 million people and left almost 22 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, of whom 16.2 million require immediate support. Of those in need, 10.4 million are women and girls and over 6.3 million are children, he said.

The junta’s blockade of humanitarian aid and destruction of medical facilities have caused a collapse in maternal healthcare that disproportionately affects women and girls in conflict-affected areas, Kyaw Moe Tun said.

The ambassador said Myanmar women remain active in the Civil Disobedience Movement, in sustaining local administrative and healthcare networks, and on the frontlines as political strategists, community mediators, and defence commanders. He said the newly established Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF) is working to embed gender equality into federal institutions and to prepare transitional justice mechanisms to prosecute perpetrators of gender-based atrocities.

Kyaw Moe Tun said ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus has not achieved its intended goals and called for a recalibrated regional approach cantering the voices of women and democratic representatives. He said the Security Council faces challenges in reaching a unified stance and called on the UN General Assembly to drive coordinated global action.

The ambassador called on the United Nations and its member states to reject the junta’s elections and results, to strengthen multilateral engagement with the NUG and SCEF, to press ASEAN to consult with the SCEF and women-led civil society networks, to provide direct support to women-led civil society organisations operating on the ground, and to support international judicial mechanisms to hold military perpetrators accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and sexual violence.