A leading human rights organization has called for urgent global action to curb Myanmar’s military crackdown on Muslim communities, urging the UN to impose a binding arms embargo and to refer the junta to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On Wednesday (December 10), the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said the UN Security Council must “end its inaction” and adopt decisive measures against Myanmar’s de facto rulers, who continue to carry out systematic persecution across the country. The group demanded a halt to all arms sales, dual-use technologies, security assistance, and aviation fuel supplies to the junta. According to an Anadolu Agency (AA) news report, the rights group said only coordinated global pressure can stop decades-long abuses.

BHRN also urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to reject the junta’s planned elections later this month, describing them as a “sham,” and to bar Myanmar from all bloc meetings. Although Myanmar remains a member of ASEAN, its leaders have been excluded from top-level gatherings since the 2021 coup.

The group further appealed to neighboring countries, including India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, to craft a regional strategy to assist refugees fleeing Myanmar. It called for strengthened protection, humanitarian support, legal aid, and emergency cross-border assistance for internally displaced people.

Marking the 77th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, BHRN said Myanmar’s Muslims continue to be denied fundamental rights to safety, dignity, and legal protection. These violations, it noted, have persisted for decades under military rule through campaigns of persecution, dispossession, and widespread violence.

The Rohingya and other Muslim minorities have endured what BHRN describes as military-engineered “systems of control, segregation, and erasure.” This includes forced displacement, denial of citizenship, mass killings, and the destruction of religious sites and entire communities. The group said Muslims are frequently subjected to targeted attacks, airstrikes on villages, the closure and destruction of mosques, raids on religious gatherings, and even the demolition of cemeteries for military use.

BHRN called on governments around the world to pursue legal measures against the junta, join The Gambia’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice, target the military’s financial networks, and support Myanmar’s democratic and resistance movements.

The Rohingya, who have long been subjected to discrimination and statelessness, have fled Myanmar in large numbers, particularly since 2017. More than 1.3 million now live in Bangladesh, while many others attempt dangerous sea journeys to Indonesia and Malaysia. Escalating ethnic clashes and the civil war triggered by the 2021 coup have deepened the country’s humanitarian catastrophe.

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