United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has expressed grave concern over worsening atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, warning that the situation bears “distressingly similar” resemblance to the 2017 military campaign that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh.

In a report released Tuesday (September 2) in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Office said Myanmar’s military has killed more than 7,100 people since the February 2021 coup, a third of them women and children. At least 29,560 people were arrested on political grounds, with over 22,000 still detained in military-run courts without due process.

The escalation of fighting in Rakhine has displaced hundreds of thousands in recent months. According to the UN, about 150,000 Rohingyas have fled into Bangladesh since November 2023, adding to nearly one million already living in overcrowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char.

“Civilians from both Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities continue to suffer the consequences of the hostilities, with widespread and systematic patterns of indiscriminate attacks by the military against civilians and protected objects, forced displacement, forced recruitment, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, arson and property destruction, denial of humanitarian assistance, and repeated atrocities aimed at terrorizing them,” Türk said.

He added that both Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army have operated with near total impunity, perpetuating “an endless cycle of suffering.” Drawing parallels to 2017, he said recent images of mass displacement and burned villages were “distressingly similar” to those witnessed during the atrocities that drove more than 740,000 Rohingyas into Bangladesh.

The UN rights chief reiterated his call for the crisis to be fully referred to the International Criminal Court, citing continued violations of international humanitarian law and prevailing impunity.

The report, covering the 14 months up to May 31, 2025, noted that nearly half of civilian deaths across Myanmar resulted from aerial attacks. It also flagged new tactics, including the use of chemical-laced explosives and paramotors to drop munitions on civilian areas.

Türk urged unhindered humanitarian access, warning that nearly one-third of Myanmar’s population faces acute food insecurity this year. “It is past time for Myanmar’s people finally to see meaningful action taken to end this wanton violence,” he said, calling for urgent funding and accountability.

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