Rights group documents 31 women killed, hundreds of children begging in southeastern Burma

Mizzima

Myanmar junta forces killed at least 31 women and 15 children across southeastern Burma between April and June, according to a new report by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), which monitors human rights conditions in Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi Region.

The report, released this week, documents airstrikes, drone attacks, gyrocopter bombings, artillery shelling, and landmine explosions across the three-month period. In several cases, HURFOM field staff found that attacks came when no active fighting was under way.

Among the deaths documented: a 30-year-old pregnant woman killed in a bombing in Karen State’s A Ka Ni village on 3 June, days before her due date; two teenage sisters aged 14 and 17 killed when gyrocopters dropped bombs on their family compound in Tha Yet Chaung Township on 21 May; and a mother and her 13-year-old daughter shot dead by junta troops who opened fire on a vehicle carrying seven displaced civilians in Bilin Township on 9 May. Twenty-three women were also arbitrarily arrested during the period.

The use of gyrocopters and paramotors — small, low-altitude aircraft that carry and drop unguided bombs — marks a shift in how the junta conducts attacks in the region. Fortify Rights documented more than 300 civilian attacks using such aircraft across Burma between December 2024 and January 2026, and human rights groups have called on governments to close sanctions gaps that allow components for these aircraft to reach the junta.

Beyond combat deaths, the report flags a growing crisis in Mawlamyine, where hundreds of children aged 3 to 14 — many from families displaced by the war — are now begging on city streets. HURFOM links the increase to four years of economic collapse and displacement, and warns that children exploited for begging are losing access to education. Local authorities have not enforced the 2019 Child Rights Law, which prohibits forcing minors to beg.

Since the 2021 coup, HURFOM has documented 308 women and 118 children killed across its monitoring areas. The organisation is calling for a global arms embargo on Burma, referral of the junta to the International Criminal Court, and expanded aid through local civil society groups.